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Volume 3.5 Episode 7: Let the games begin!

  “Come on in,” said the pleasant white-haired young woman. Ross, smiled, feeling that he’d been tricked until he saw the incredibly lavish interior of the hotel he’d stepped into.

  He had an event soon, but received a message that he needed to stop by a random address within the resort to pick up equipment given to the attendees of the event first.

  He’d nearly turned around until he came across the luxurious shopping center in the middle of what appeared to be an entirely abandoned sector of the lowest floor of RaidCorp Coliseum, but then saw a lighted shopping strip that rivaled some of the higher floors he’d seen on his way down to the floor he and his friends could afford to pay to stay in.

  “Thank you. Is this the right place for the equipment pickup for the Capture the Vault event?”

  The white-haired attendee nodded, gesturing for him to enter, before pointing out a large open living room that he could sit in while he waited for the equipment.

  “Didn’t know this event was that special, I knew it was high tier for the lower levels, but still I’ve never seen the officials give equipment out before,” said Ross, sitting on the nearest couch to the door, beside a few others that also seemed to be waiting.

  “It’s new for this season cycle’s event, said the young woman smiling at Ross, before returning to stand at the counter positioned at the hotel’s entryway.

  Ross looked around at the other waiting individuals. None of them looked special by any means, all of them were obvious Cultivators like Ross, but none seemed to stand out, all looking like people you’d see visiting any random place when strolling through any populated city.

  A tall blue-eyed girl with dark brown hair. A slightly shorter young man with long silver hair. A kind looking blonde young man with a buzz cut, and another black-haired girl sat across from him beside a white-haired girl that looked similar to the attendee that had answered the door.

  The attendee is far more beautiful, but she could definitely pass as like her unrefined little sister or something…

  Ross couldn’t help but glance between the smiling attendant that tapped away at her flatscreen, and the girl across from him.

  Hmm, sparks that’s uncanny…

  He shook his head and pulled out his flatscreen to check the time.

  “Hey, how long is this supposed to take, the event is going to start soon and we’ll have to travel far to get back to the event center on time,” asked the blond boy on the nearby couch. The attendant smiled and nodded, waving dismissively in the air in front of herself before she responded.

  “Oh, you all have nothing to worry over, because of the inconvenience we are going to extend the use of our portal system to get you to the event center on time, our Alchemist is nearly done and will be in soon with both the potions needed to protect you all from potential injuries, as well as offer you some specialty items to give you an edge in the competition in an effort to raise the numbers for this event,” said the attendant. An excited murmur went through the small group, none ever hearing of RaidCorp offering such amenities, but all were quick to believe the potential truth in what was being told to them all for multiple reasons.

  First was the seclusion of the strip that they’d all found themselves on. Next was the suggestion that they had access to portals, and lastly was how they’d been contacted through the RaidCorp resort network.

  The message did say that I was randomly selected, thought Ross smiling to himself, suddenly feeling lucky to be chosen out of all his friends.

  Finally after a few more moments of waiting, a blond haired young man strolled into the room with a floating table being held up by four metallic hands. The tools hummed with seemingly high powered propellers at the center of their palms; Ross oohing and aahing with the rest of those gathered at the illustrious alchemy tools gathered across the top of the table.

  The young man looked familiar, and Ross couldn’t help but notice that he looked nearly identical to the blond haired young man sitting adjacent to him on the couches.

  Hmm, all this dude is missing is this Alchemist’s weird breathing mask and they could be sparking brothers.

  A strange scent touched Ross’s nose and he looked back to the Alchemist, watching the young man closely now as the man began to drop more and more ingredients into what looked like a small open portal lain flat across the top of the table he worked on.

  From what little Ross knew about potion making, cauldrons of various types were needed to brew potions, but the young man before him seemed to be using an incredibly expensive style of cauldron. This detail alone further solidifying in Ross’s mind the credibility of what was occurring before him. Yet the smell bothered him.

  The fumes from the portal cauldron seemed to be wafting heavily from the open mouth of the device, and though the Alchemist seemed to be unaffected, those around him became more and more heavy lidded as Ross looked around at all of them.

  What the bloody embers is wrong with them?

  Ross watched the silver haired young man literally lean his head back, close his eyes, and begin to snore in a matter of blinks.

  “Yo, what is going on here?”

  Ross tried to get up, but suddenly felt so comfortable. He looked around and felt his eyes go wide as he watched the attendant at the front desk put on a breathing mask of her own. The far more simplistic device like that of a small medical mask, runically inscribed to filter out smoke and fumes of all kinds, unlike the bubbling half face mask the Alchemist wore.

  Ross managed to stumble to his feet, only for another very familiar looking silver haired young man to literally step free of his shadow, and place a gentle hand on his chest, pushing Ross back with a subtle nudge, forcing him to sit back down before speaking.

  “Is the boss here yet?”

  “Nope,” said the other two masked strangers in the room.

  “What about Queen and Cro?”

  “Nope,” repeated the others.

  “Hmm, that’s annoying, we’re going to be late if they don’t hurry up, I’m going to be mad if all my hard work goes—“

  “Calm down, buddy, I’m here and our last two are on the way, let’s just hurry up and get these people tied up and secured in a room up stairs,” said a new voice. Ross was able to glance over to see a starry eyed young man stroll into the room as if he owned the place. The young man’s features very similar to his own.

  “Bloody embers that stuff is strong, what did you put in there?” asked Ross’s near doppelg?nger, stopping to literally take a deep sniff of the fumes roiling out from the portal cauldron on the table still excreting what Ross now knew to be toxins into the air. The young man’s eyes going wide as he breathed in, Ross’s mind able to note that he was the only person still standing within the room without a mask.

  “Everything but my sparking foot baby,” said the blonde Alchemist.

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  “Sparks, I can tell, I bet even my mother would be proud of that one,” said the starry eyed young man before he walked up to Ross and smiled, lifting a finger that swirled with a white golden lightning that danced across his fingertip, pointing the appendage directly between Ross’s eyes.

  “Nighty night bud,” was all Ross heard before he was tapped on the forehead and everything went dark.

  …

  Seven could tell that something was off from the moment the event started. Sitting in the bedroom of his hotel suite, he and Vivid watched an event that he had placed a multitude of bets on.

  “So how does this event work again?” asked Vivid.

  “Three teams, red, white, and blue are placed on various floors of a skyscraper, each team has a vault to defend, some are easier to find than others, it’s just luck of the draw, whatever team at the end has the most money inside their vault wins.”

  Vivid nodded, staring at the split wall screen that showed each team; the 101 membered groups all stepping from flying platforms that had been lifted to balconies on different sides and floors of the event’s building.

  The cylindrical skyscraper was dazzling to look at, seemingly made of light, the structure was lit on all sides from within, the seventy one floors of floor to ceiling windows that lined the outside of the entire building letting the illumination from within be seen easily from miles away; appearing like that of a solitary glass pillar dropped from the heavens to disrupt the eternal night of RaidCorp Coliseum’s lowest floor.

  “Okay, Okay, Okay, let’s get it people, I know how long you have all been waiting for this, so I won’t hold you,” screamed the announcer to start the event.

  “So, is the only way to win for you to steal directly from other vaults,” asked Vivid.

  Seven shook his head.

  “No, there are mini safes with diamond bricks, credit drives, and mana stones all hidden throughout the building. Most times it’s the teams with the best scouts or team members with surveillance skills or abilities that win, as each team even has to find their own vault before even being able to defend it properly. Sometimes vaults get raided before teams can even find their own,” explained Seven.

  “I see, so what exactly did you bet on, this seems like a risky event to place money on a winner if you don’t know who is on each team,” questioned Vivid laughing.

  “It is, but that is why the odds if you guess right are so high, but luckily for me, I’m not guessing…,” said Seven, lifting the hand he felt intertwining with his own, kissing the back of Vivid’s fingers.

  “Mmm, something’s telling me that you’ve been a bad boy,” said Vivid. Seven simply nodding, never taking his eyes off the wall screen as the event commenced.

  The first oddity that Seven noticed occurred when two members of the red team came across two members of the white team on one of the lower floors. Fighting was allowed, as the fewer members who could defend a vault made it that much more volatile an event.

  What the sparks?

  One of the white team members moved with such fluidity that Seven wondered if he was watching a trained killer fight. He felt as if he was watching one of his father’s men beat down defenseless opponents, and began to worry.

  None of my info showed anyone with a profile that detailed any military or elite combat history, did it?

  “Sparks that was brutal,” said Vivid just after a single spin kick toppled both of the red team members. The white team member completely relaxed, even after another four members of the blue team turned the corner, entering the hallway.

  “What is he doing?” asked Vivid, and Seven frowned.

  Every member of each team was identified by the simple mask given to every competitor before the start of the event. Red team, wore red masks. White wore, white, and blue wore blue.

  The brutally skilled fighter, bent down, lifting up the body of one of the beaten red team members, and pulled off their mask. The mask vanishing in an instant.

  “I have no sparking idea…”

  “Is that against the rules?” asked Vivid.

  “Gonna be honest, beautiful, I have no idea.

  The other white team member turned tail and ran at the sight of the blue team rushing toward them, and Seven cursed, watching as the white team member stood their ground.

  “Bloody embers, this might not be good…”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Either this guy is brave, stupid, or so skilled that I may have bet on the wrong team,” said Seven, nibbling on his bottom lip.

  “Let me guess, you voted on the blue team?”

  “Yup,” said Seven nodding.

  “Any reason why you were so sure they would win?”

  “There are two HonorBorn Scions on the blue team, and no, I’m not supposed to know that, no one is…”

  “Woah, what’s this?!” roared the announcer.

  The single white team member dashed forward, and one of the most brutal beatings Seven had ever seen began.

  “Holy light of the Maiden…”

  …

  Arson smiled underneath his mask. The four members of the blue team he charged were fair game, as none of them had given him the signal prepared by his friends before the match.

  The closest of the enemy team to him gasped, Arson sliding on one foot as he cocked back his leg. The well timed low kick swept the blue team member off their feet, and Arson managed to kick out a second time, laughing as his strike sent his opponent sprawling.

  Two more blue team members rushed him, and Arson began to fight them both at the same time. Blocking a punch from one, at the same time as he kicked the other. Delivering a spin kick to both, the pair barely dodging, before Arson palm struck the solar plexus of one, dropping them to their knees gasping for air, before rotating and landing an elbow to the temple of the other.

  Both were left crumpled on the ground as Arson stepped over their bodies to approach the last blue team member.

  “I was told that me and my brother would be the only scions attending this event, but I guess that was wrong,” said the blue team member, pulling a hair tie from his pocket, and tying back his long dusty brown curls.

  “Who, me? I didn’t do anything,” said Arson with a chuckle, pointing at himself.

  …

  Troy was annoyed. Annoyed because somehow her best friend seemed to be perpetually right, about everything.

  She sighed, slapping the grown man so hard that his white mask fell off with a back hand, pulling him up to her eye level, to look him directly in his face as she spoke.

  “What floor is your vault on, and please don’t lie, I’ve already marked you, and if I go and try to find it, and it’s not where you say it is, I’m coming straight back for you,” said Troy in a near whisper.

  “I, I, I,” spluttered the man in fear.

  “You, you, you, better start talking,” said Troy, walking toward a nearby window.

  Huhhh, this is as fun as he said it would be for sure…

  Troy couldn’t help but be annoyed. She’d thought the sound of any kind of heist would be far too dangerous, even more risky, but that was until she heard the plan.

  Troy pressed her hand to the glass of the floor to ceiling office building window, and a flash of power thrummed through the pane before it shattered. This was as much of her power as she could use, as none of her nor her friends could be seen using any abilities that would be displayed during any other event.

  “No, please don’t,” yelled the white team member.

  “What was that? I can’t hear you, it’s really windy up here, what floor number,” yelled Troy lifting the man, dangling him out of the window

  “Oh my maiden, no, I can’t tell you, if my team finds out, I’ll never be able to show myself in this resort again!”

  “What, that’s what you’re worried about, bro. I’m about to drop you out of a building like twenty something floors off the ground, shouldn’t you be more worried about your life?”

  The man looked over his shoulder and shrieked in terror at the sight. Troy holding him out of a window so high up, that the ground below couldn’t even be seen in the dark of night.

  “Okay okay, south west corner of the thirty eighth floor!”

  Troy smiled, pulling the man back inside and dropping him to the floor.

  “See, that wasn’t even that bad,” said Troy, picking up the mask of the white team member and strolling off down the hall, messaging Khalif through her Overlay.

  Troy: Khalif, white team vault is on the thirty eighth floor, south west corner, I got a mask if you need one.

  Khalif: Already got a white mask, I’m headed there now, you meeting me up there or what?

  Troy: No, I’m going to go help Xani and Rob with blue’s vault.

  Khalif: Got it, let me know if you guys need me down there.

  Troy: Will do. You heard from Arson, he’s not answering?

  “Khalif: Yeah… saw him fighting two blues on the seventh floor, he’s got his hands full, he’ll probably get back to us soon.

  Troy sighed again, rolling her eyes as she stepped onto one of the many open elevators on the floor she was on.

  “Boys will be boys…”

  …

  Xani stood in the security room on the tenth floor, hacking into the camera grid. Above where she typed were the displays of three cameras. One, with Arson fighting two blue team members. Another with Rob stepping into a maintenance closet she’d sent him toward that held access to the building’s fire safety systems, and the last showed Khalif.

  “Man I wish I had my tablet…”

  Xani couldn’t use her favored Flatscreen device, but made do, feeling the runic computer system being used in the skyscraper to be an absolute joke.

  This is easier than hacking into the RaidCorp messaging grid by far, thought Xani with a mental chuckle.

  Although she wasn’t doing any of the heavy lifting on the job, she by far had done the most work thus far to pull off the heist.

  The most complicated parts of Arson’s plan had been getting people that looked enough like him and the rest of their friends to sign up for the event, and then have them step far outside of the resorts populated areas to be captured and have their identities used.

  “Damn they’re stupid,” said Xani, glancing at the camera that held Khalif. Her friend at the end of a line that lead into the white team’s vault.

  Two of the white team’s members had been rather skilled at quickly finding the various safes throughout the building, loading up various carts before delivering them to their team’s vault.

  Already inside the vault, were multiple piles of diamond bricks worth billions of credits. These weren’t valuable to a team, as it was only the riches in excess to the original cache that would be split amongst the members of the winning team.

  From what Xani had figured out from her research, most teams didn’t even try and move the diamond bricks, due to the weight and potential losses that could occur during transit from floor to floor.

  Khalif however, had no problem moving anything he wanted from floor to floor. Standing at the end of the skillful pair of treasure hunters before the open safe door, he threw everything he was handed into the shadow of the massive pile of bricks already within the white team’s safe. None there noticing that everything thrown into the safe in seeming haste to get the door closed once more, was in the safe for as long as it took for the thrown items to touch the shadow of the bricks inside.

  Xani: Rob, you done in there yet, Troy found red’s safe, and I think I know where blue’s safe is?

  Rob: Give me a little bit longer, I almost got the entire system converted, just let me know when you need me to set off the fire bomb.

  Xani: Nuff said, just keep me posted.

  Xani: Cro, head to the twenty first floor, I think blue’s vault is there, and if you don’t have a blue mask just let me know and I will open the vault door for you.

  Micro: no need, I got this…

  …

  Seven’s jaw dropped open as he continued to watch the event. He rose to his feet and began to pace, watching the fights on two floors play out in absolute amazement.

  What is going on here…?

  “Not going to lie, I see why you like this event, this is like watching a movie,” said Vivid, happily eating popcorn a single colonel at a time. Seven looking at the beautiful young woman, momentarily captivated by how she daintily ate her snack; his new love interest now locked in, not looking away from the wall screen for a moment.

  “Glad you like it,” said Seven, looking back.

  Too bad it’s looking like I’m going to lose my bloody bets.

  Seven had no idea what was happening. A handful of the competitors seemed to be playing by their own rules. Seven couldn’t believe for a moment that multiple members of all three teams had the ingenious idea to steal the masks of their foes and use them to steal from the other groups.

  One member of one team, or even a single team as a whole would have been believable, but it wasn’t until he saw two members of two separate teams flag each other down with a strange hand gesture, and perform a hand shake, that Seven knew what was happening.

  Wait, I know that handshake…

  Then it hit him. Everything happening on every floor highlighted in his mind all at once.

  “They’re sparking going to rob the event!”

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