Nexus Challenge [Chapter 2]

Hey peeps!

Another chapter. We get some summary!

Shami

—Chapter 2—

—Team 101 & The Dilemma—

Kellan entered the suite for Team 101. It was a massive luxury room designed for mages. The balcony had a mana spring—a pink-watered spa that restored the mana of a mage who rested in it. The balcony overlooked gardens within the AVU Palace.

The suite itself had a central room with several flatscreen TVs mounted to the walls. The couches and chairs were positioned with the TVs in mind, as though the Arbiter wanted to make sure all the mages in the games paid attention to the newscasts.

The dark red aesthetic reminded Kellan of blood.

There wasn’t a bright or happy color in the whole room.

Four doors led off the central living room. They were personal bedrooms with bathrooms attached. There had only ever been four, even though they were a team of five. Kellan hadn’t given it much thought until he stepped inside and took stock of his surroundings.

Mavis paced around a large crimson couch. Sen and Husker were seated, but neither seemed comfortable. They sat forward, their bodies tense.

“Kellan?” Mavis turned to him, her eyes wide. “Is everything okay?”

She jogged to his side.

Mavis had the athleticism and build of an ex-soldier. Her dyed hair, purplish in coloration, drew more attention than her freckles, but Kellan took note of it all. He always considered her good looking, and he always found he got along better with people who had served. His attempts to connect with civilians had been more unfortunate and awkward than he wanted.

She patted Kellan’s shoulders, as if feeling to make sure he was still whole.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“The Arbiter isn’t angry at you? You didn’t break any rules or anything?”

“No. He just wants me to absorb more gold arcana than red arcana.”

The statement settled over the room like a wet blanket. No one said anything. Before Kellan had shown them some gold arcana, most of his team didn’t really believe that it had existed—but he had proved it was real several times now.

If arcana was red, it had been taken by force. If it were gold, it was given freely. Kellan had learned the difference time and time again—but it was so much easier to collect arcana from dead bodies than get people to hand it over.

Mavis gestured Kellan over to the couch. They walked over, but Mavis didn’t sit. She paced around the couch, her steps quick, her restlessness on full display.

Kellan took a seat between Sen and Husker.

“We only have three keys,” Sen said, damn near shouting. “We’re about to enter game five! The Nexus Games will end if any team has the required number of keys… So we either need to find a way to get two keys, or we need to make sure no other team can trigger the end of the games!”

Sen was a bizarre individual.

He was a thirty-year-old man, but he had the body of a ten-year-old. At some point after the last game, Sen had changed his clothes. He now wore a little blue hoodie and a pair of black shorts. His sneakers—that lit up whenever his feet touched the ground—reminded Kellan of elementary school.

“Did you hear me?” Sen yelled. He shot Kellan a glare. “That’s our top priority! We can’t allow anyone else to win until we have enough keys ourselves!”

His volume was bordering on earsplitting.

“The people who tolerate you on a daily basis are the real heroes,” Kellan quipped as he rubbed his ears.

“So, us?” Husker added with a chuckle.

Unlike Sen, who weighed less than eighty pounds, Husker was nearly nine feet tall. Kellan always thought of him as a werewolf, since Husker’s race, the rennic, all looked like humanoid wolf people. Husker was red, black, and white, similar to a fox. His pointed ears twitched to face whoever spoke, and when he spoke, he flashed his intimidating fangs.

Sen leaned forward, glancing around Kellan, in order to glower at Husker. “Don’t encourage sarcasm! This is a serious matter.”

Husker leaned back on the couch. His foxy tail twitched back and forth. He wore a long coat that covered most of his massive body—including the chains around his wrists—and he panted between breaths.

Everyone had the number “101” on the back of their left hand, but Husker was the only one who also had a black skull seemingly tattooed across his fur. The skull symbolized that he was the team’s Straggler. A rather unfortunate designation.

Husker huffed. “I understand this is serious, but we don’t know whether we’ll be getting a challenge round before game five. If we don’t get one—if an additional key isn’t offered—we’ll have no way of winning the Nexus Games by the end of the fifth game. So, I suggest we just relax and wait.”

Sen ran a hand through his long hair. His inky locks practically ran like black waterfalls, and far longer than Kellan had ever kept his hair. Sen’s hair went past his shoulders and halfway down his back.

After a quiet moment of contemplation—while Mavis continued to pace—Sen finally said, “Very well.”

“Very well what?” Husker growled.

“We’ll relax, you buffoon. That was your suggestion, wasn’t it?”

Husker flexed his hands and claws sprouted from wolf-like fingers. Although Kellan would’ve loved to watch a werewolf beat an annoying child down in an epic one-sided fist fight, arguing wouldn’t help them win the games.

Kellan gestured for them to lower their voices. “Calm down. Husker’s right. We should rest. Why don’t we just retire to our rooms for a bit?” Kellan glanced around the suite room. “Where’s Xiang?”

“She’s already in her room,” Husker said with a grunt. He stood from his seat and then shook off his fur. “If you need me, I’ll be napping.” Without another word, Husker stomped over to his room, threw open the door, and then slammed it once he was inside.

Sen slid off the couch, patted his clothing down, and then brushed some of his long hair over his shoulder. “I’ll also be in my room.” He flounced over to the far door, his shoes lighting up and blinking the entire way. Then he disappeared into his room.

Kellan wasn’t the biggest fan of dramatic exits. That never would’ve flown in the military. But his team was hardly combat trained.

Except for Mavis.

She walked around to the front of the couch and stopped her pacing.

“Want to get something to eat?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

Kellan lifted an eyebrow. “Right now?”

“Yeah. We can relax in a restaurant, can’t we?”

“There are restaurants here?”

“There are bowling alleyshere,” Mavis said with half a smile. “Have you really explored this place? It’s crazy.”

Kellan chuckled. “Crazy is an understatement. This palace needs therapy.”

“Go home, Palace. You’re drunk.”

“Right?” Kellan shook his head.

Mavis held out her hand. When Kellan took it, he was shocked by how easily she yanked him off the couch. He was taller than her—and definitely weighed more—yet she pulled him up and out of his seat as though he were a child. Then he remembered.

She had been increasing her stats.

Kellan allowed his Blitzkrieg Analysis to give him all of Mavis’s information again. He wanted the reminder.

Her capabilities flashed over Kellan’s eyes—numbers, words, explanations.

Name:Mavis Cartwright

Race:Human

Magics:Magma, Metal

Rank: C, D

Armor Rating: 2

Health: 11/11

Stats:

Strength—6 [Strong Grip, Cyborg-Enhanced]

Dexterity—6 [Accurate]

Fortitude—5 [Cyborg-Enhanced]

Charisma—2

Manipulation—2

Intelligence—3

Perception—4 [Mystic]

Wisdom—2

Willpower—4 [Tough]

Abilities:

Personal—[Rebuilt]—The mage can develop their physical stats (strength, dexterity, fortitude) for half the arcana cost.

Hex—[A Light That Blazes Twice as Bright]—The mage gains triple the stat increase from all magical means. As punishment, if they don’t increase at least one primary stat (strength, dexterity, fortitude, charisma, manipulation, intelligence, perception, wisdom) once every seven days (the counter starting after each stat increase), the mage dies.

A five in any stat was normal human maximum. Most people didn’t get above a five without magical or high-tech enhancements. Mavis had a six in both her strength and dexterity—a roided out gym bro would be jealous.

“You’ve gotten stronger,” Kellan whispered.

“We got so much arcana from the last game, I figured I had to spend it.” Mavis smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “You’ve spent all of your arcana, right? I mean, that’s probably the smartest move right now. We have to be prepared for the fifth game.”

Kellan hadn’t spent his arcana.

And he had quite a bit of it, too.

After a long sigh, he decided to focus on his own stats. Comparing his growth to Mavis’s would help him understand where he needed to improve. He wanted to make sure their team didn’t have any blatant weaknesses.

“Give me a moment,” Kellan muttered. “I haven’t spent my arcana.”

“Really? All right.” Mavis crossed her arms and leaned her weight onto one foot.

Kellan closed his eyes.

His stats, and personal abilities, became apparent to him.

Alex Kellan

Magics: Eclipse, Body, Metal, Meta

Rank: C, D, D, E

Mana: 17/17

Health: 11/11

Unspent Arcana: 33

Strength—4

Dexterity—5 [Accurate]

Fortitude—4 [Tough]

Charisma—3

Manipulation—1

Intelligence—2

Perception—5 [Keen-Eyed]

Wisdom—1 [Broken]

Willpower—10 [Defiant] (Halved)

Abilities:

Personal—[Descended from Zenith]—The mage has the raw magic of Zenith in their blood and has no rank maximum. The mage can also develop one “unknowable” magic.

Personal—[Blitzkrieg Analysis]—The mage can see basic details of other magical beings and objects upon first glance without the need to spend mana.

Training—[Sharpshooter]—The mage adds a 50% bonus to gun damage.

Training—[Hydra Corp. Serum]—The mage has consumed a serum created by the Immortal Megadonis and has a 20% reduction to rank meta magic.

Training—[Dark Star Bloodline of Councilor Zero]—The mage has consumed Councilor Zero’s blood and has a 20% reduction to rank eclipse magic.

Flaws:

[Greater Attachment]—The mage suffers greater from personal loss than normal. Whenever the mage loses someone close, the mage’s wisdom is reduced to 1 and their willpower is temporarily halved.

Kellan opened his eyes, his body tense.

“Everything okay?” Mavis asked.

He shook his head. “My magical abilities… I need to think about what I’m going to improve first.”

“Aren’t you using lasers?” She smiled as she leaned in close to him. “I’ve improved my fire, and with my metal magic, I’ve added cyborg enhancements to my body. It’s been working great. Sen thinks I’m going to become a stat ball. That’s what he called it, not me.”

“Hm.”

Kellan had been focusing on lasers, but he also wanted to improve his meta magic. Meta seemed to have empoweringabilities—skills and magic that just generally improved everything else. It was always helpful. And since meta was a rare magic, he wanted to take advantage of his unique gifts.

“What kind of magics do you have?” Mavis asked. “I mean, specifically.”

“Well… With my body magic, I can heal people, and ignore pain.”

Mavis lifted both her eyebrows. “All right. I think I remember that.”

“With my metal magic, I can physically mold metal like clay, and I discern the use for any technology I touch.” Kellan ran a hand down his face as he thought over his magics. “I also picked up some laser abilities. You know what’s weird?”

“What?”

“In metal magic, lasers are available at the lowest rank—E-rank—but lasers aren’t available in eclipse magic until D-rank. Eclipse magic, which specializes in light and darkness, is a step behind the metal rankings. Laser, Rank II is at C-rank.”

Mavis waved away his comment. “No. That makes sense. Husker said metal magic is the magic of civilization and technology. I mean, lasers are more tech than just light, right?”

Kellan shrugged. “It just seems odd.”

“Uh-huh. What else you got?”

“In eclipse, I have almost too much to list. The ability to see in the dark, move through shadows, more lasers… I also have special apex powers I received from the gold arcana. My Void Knight ability and Neo Excalibur.”

Mavis snorted and chuckled. “Neo Excalibur sounds amusing. What do those do?”

Since both powers were word salads of information, Kellan held out his hand. Mavis slowly placed her hand on his. She was colder than he was. He closed his fingers around her knuckles and thought about his powers. The information transferred to her thoughts.

Kellan wasn’t sure why, but whenever mages made physical contact and thought about their powers—even their hexes—the information seemed to spread to other magical beings.

His powers read:

Void Knight [APEX, E-Rank Eclipse]

The mage understands that light is tiny and insignificant when compared to the darkness that spans the infinite universe. While shrouded in shadows and void, the mage becomes more powerful.

Whenever the mage is in darkness (less than 1,000 lumens per 100 square feet) they are empowered, gaining +5 to all physical stats (strength, dexterity, fortitude), +2 to their armor rating, and immunity to all shadow-tendril attacks or grapples from other eclipse mages. Gain the title “the Void Knight.”

Once taken, the mage may never acquire “Solar Scion.”

Neo Excalibur [APEX, D-Rank Eclipse]

The mage understands that light is a deadly weapon. It burns and destroys and brings low even the sturdiest of mages and objects.

The mage spends 3 mana and enhances any bladed weapon with the power of raw laser light. This grants the weapon bonus damage equal to 2 x the mage’s rank of eclipse, and the ability to ignore the first 15 armor rating. This will last for 15 minutes.

Once taken, the mage may never acquire “Neo Svalinn.”

Mavis removed her hand from Kellan’s. “Interesting. They seem way more powerful than normal magical abilities…”

“That’s the benefit of gathering gold arcana,” Kellan said.

“Really?”

He nodded once. “Apparently, if you gather enough of it, new magical abilities become available.”

Mavis mulled over his statements. She furrowed her brow as she stared at the floor for a long while. “Xiang said it was best if I just aimed for as much power as fast as possible. She said we didn’t have much time in the games left…”

“She might be right,” Kellan said, his teeth gritted. “But I told the Arbiter, and Bitso, I’d try for this. Plus, I just prefer it.”

“I’ll stick with what I’m doing, then. My new hex is doing wonders.”

Kellan grabbed Mavis’s shoulder. “Don’t take any more hexes.”

She glanced up and met his gaze. Then Mavis jerked out of his grip. “Look, I’ll try, but if I find another one that will suit me, I’m not going to leave it.”

That wasn’t the answer Kellan was hoping for. Although Kellan had no proof that hexes were evil or detrimental outside of their clear downsides, he felt they weren’t worth the benefits they promised. Something about them made Kellan uneasy. He wished Mavis hadn’t gotten mixed up in it.

But both Xiang and Husker had hexes, so it wasn’t like Mavis was alone…

I still don’t like it, Kellan thought as he shook his head.

“Let’s go,” Mavis said as she tugged his arm toward the door. “Let’s forget this and relax, remember? You can think about the magic you want while we eat.”

After a short sigh, Kellan shrugged. “All right. Lead the way to this mysterious restaurant.”

Mavis smiled. “You’re gonna love it.”