To Pepper’s surprise Carlie sent her knight sprinting forward. He immediately sent Mala ahead but noticed that his opponents far slender golem had a speed advantage. If she has speed than she probably has some agility. He thought.

  Carlie’s knight arrived first at the center, but kept the surge going forward and headed straight for mala. Pepper knew he could use his gravity rune, but feared he had not identified a movement pattern that could be used to catch his opponent off-guard.

  He immediately looked to his elemental expansion. It had not turned green yet and needed a few more seconds before there was enough energy to power the rune. The knight had now cut the distance between the two golems and Mala was in striking distance of the blade.

  Pepper focused his eyes on the weapon. Carlie began to command her knight to raise the sword up and brought it around in a slashes motion. The angle of the strike and the distance warned him that there was no way to evade the attack by heading backwards or to either side. Instead, Pepper commanded Mala to continue its momentum forward.

  He then instructed his golem to enter into a forward dive and sent Mala into a barrel roll. The evasion caused the crowd to gasp, but immediately replaced it with a loud resounding cheer. The combative move played out before them, but more importantly, it gave Pepper the time he needed.

  His eyes locked onto the rune icon as it immediately switched to its green coloration. He activated the rune and then chose its sub option for a staff. The metal particles sprang out from Mala’s hands. The particles looked like giant specks of silver confetti that twirled around and bound together in the form of the staff.

  The knight had not stopped its attack, however. Carlie commanded her golem to continue rotating around and kept bringing the sword across at an angle. Pepper turned Mala around with its metal staff in both hands to counter. The two weapons struck each other and metal sparks shot out while the reverberating high-pitched sound clanged with life.

  The crowd roared while Carlie’s golem reared its sword back. The weapon brought back down on a center attack angle. Pepper had Mala bring the staff up and once again blocked the strike. He then twisted Mala’s hands to one side and the golem heaved the blade off with a deflection.

  The knight, however, brought its left leg forward. The shield shot out and then Pepper watched as a bright flash of yellow energy shot forward and slammed into Mala’s chest. The tiger was shoved backwards and Pepper realized, Defensive items can be used as offensive weapons…

  He had no time to spare as Carlie continued to press her attack. Her knight leapt upwards and brought another swing of her sword at a downward trajectory. Mala’s head was clearly the target of the attack. Pepper then turned to his runes, he saw his force blast was illuminated green.

  He let the metal staff remain in Mala’s left hand, the weapon held at an angle that ran up the back of the golems arm and across the back shoulder blades. He then had outstretched Mala’s right hand and activated his force wall. The giant wall of purple energy sprang out and rushed directly towards Carlie’s golem and slammed into the knight while it was still in midflight.

  Carlie appeared to be caught off guard. Her golem slammed onto the arena floor and landed on its back. She did not appear to have practiced getting up from a downed position, and her golem wiggled back and forth as she worked to get it back and onto its feet. That’s a takedown! That is a guaranteed 10 points! Pepper exclaimed in his mind.

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  The split second delayed Pepper’s response and Carlie took advantage of it. She activated a gravitational rune and caught Mala dead center of the powerful effect. Pepper tried to move Mala out of the its grasp, and watched as his power meter surged to almost max output. His core doing its best to command Mala and resist the crippling effect.

  His eyes took notice of Carlie’s golem, however, and realized she was now preparing another attack. Pepper then returned to his elemental expansion sub-set and changed his option to that of a shield. The staff began to disintegrate, the metal particles quickly accelerating down and reforming into that of a shield.

  The change occurred just in time. Carlie then pointed her knights’ shield directly in line with Mala. A bright flesh of red and then flames ignited all along the edge of the defensive item. The front face of the shield then launched a volley of fire bolts straight ahead. The flamed attack went surging ahead as each fire bolt streaked across the distance.

  Pepper was happy that the rune was a coned attack and slowly spread out into an area, rather than a directed one. He ordered Mala to raise it’s shield but kept directly in front of its chest, protecting his vital areas. Mala took some damage on his limbs and one or two bolts appeared to have singed the upper torso as they ripped past his golem, but overall, he survived.

  Okay… so you want to play that game, do you? He gritted his teeth but grinned at his opponent who continued to challenge him. To a certain point, Pepper didn’t want to expose his entire rune build, but at the same time… he didn’t want to lose in the first match.

  He had been mentally counting down how long Carlie’s flaming bolt attack was active. Pepper maintained his resistance and then activated his gravity rune just when he felt she had roughly two or three seconds left in her attack. The gravity rune landed with the knight directly in the center. The gravitational attack Mala was held captive in then ended and Pepper sent him forward.

  Pepper mentally prepared for his next attack, but Carlie caught him off guard. Her knight sprang out of his trap and dashed off to the side and tried to flank Mala. She has a gravitational defense rune! He mentally cried out.

  Carlie then activated another rune. A beam of flame sprang out from her golem’s shield, but landed directly at Mala’s feet. The fire immediately formed a flaming circle all around Mala. Pepper’s command interface immediately erupted with warning lights and audible chimes. He knew he couldn’t stay in the area long and was going to have to press an attack if he had any chance to survive.

  He went back to his elemental expansion sub-set and switched his option to dual axes. The metal deconstructing once again and immediately reforming into the offensive weapons. He commanded Mala into a power jump towards Carlie’s knight. The flames attempted to follow their target but Carlie then dismissed the effect when she realized her knight would be caught within the area of effect as well.

  The battle tiger arrived and Pepper launched a salvo of strikes. He brought his right ax down, but Carlie caught it against the face of her shield. His left axe acted as if it was going to come straight down. Pepper watched as Carlie angled her sword to block that strike as well. At the last second, Pepper commander Mala to lean to his left and re-adjusted the ax’s angle.

  The left ax blade plunged into the knights side, just above the hip area. Pepper could see the light of Carlie’s golem flicker, and he realized. My celestial enchantment rune is adding its effect! He then retrieved his blades and commanded Mala to spin around. The tornado attack caused Mala to leapt and rotate in unison while the momentum generated additional striking power.

  Pepper had aimed directly for the lower neck portion of Carlie’s knight. Mala’s left arm rotated around and the axe blade missed its target and soared directly over the knights head. In the split second, however, Pepper was able to adjust the right arm and correct the angle of the strike.

  The blade plunged directly into the knight’s neck. The weapon appeared to have wedged itself deep into the clavicle area. Pepper watched as the knight immediately went limp and fell down onto the arena floor, landing on its knees. The golem’s coloration flickered and then went out and the victory horn rang out.