Titus shuffled his feet impatiently, seemingly itching to get to the actual fighting. Nassus only appeared interested in delaying, though.
“So maybe I should focus on trying to overload your shield? Like your last opponent? You can’t reflect damage if you don’t have a shield. But then, you’d be expecting me to do that, wouldn’t you?”
“Enough chit-chat.” Titus stomped forward, feigning a charge.
Nassus hardly reacted but to smile.
“No, you see, both of your past opponents tried to go aggressive, but both strategies meant going through your shield. You’re a shield warden. Your shield is your strong point. But if it doesn’t get hit, it can’t build charge and you can’t fight back.” She smirked. “Which is why I’m not going to go through your shield, I’m going to go around it.” As soon as she delivered the last word, she activated an ability.
“And here we go!” the announcer shouted, the excitement in his voice carrying through the stadium and pouring energy into the audience.
Ability: Ambush
Increases speed. The next attack will deal additional damage and stagger the target.
Nassus’ feet carried her forward so fast she was hardly more than a blur. Titus leaned forward with his shield but she didn’t attack it. Instead, she pulled a hard right-turn, slipped around behind him, then attacked.
She’s like an enhanced warden! Kaiden thought, marveling at her speed. Just more offensively oriented.
Ability: Frenzied Barrage
A series of quick attacks, each more damaging than the last.
Nassus’ fists flared to life, glowing with energy then punching forward, proving the ability to be accurately named as a frenzy of blows fell against Titus’ back. His health bar flashed as each blow landed, taking worryingly large chunks out of his life total. Somewhere around five percent with each hit.
“Ooh, that has got to hurt! I don’t care who you are.” The announcer seemed positively giddy with excitement.
Titus spun around quickly, getting his shield in front of him, but even still he’d taken twenty percent damage. Improved Volt Field had slapped his opponent back for a bit, lowering Nassus’ health by a measly four percent.
As soon as Titus had his shield facing the attacks, she pulled back, peeling off and using the remainder of the speed boost from Ambush to put a few strides of distance between them.
“Titus didn’t catch a single blow on his shield,” Kaiden worried aloud. “He didn’t gain any charge at all.”
“Charge-starving,” Thorne said with a knowing nod. “Makes sense. In group combat it’s not really possible, but when facing down a single warden… well, it’s a difficult strategy, but if executed correctly, the warden will never have a chance.”
“One more reason to play blast warden,” Zelda said. “We generate our own charge... not that that’s going to help Titus.” She frowned down toward the arena. “He’s going to have to block something.”
“Even then, he’s going to be extremely limited on charge.” Kaiden frowned at the prospect. Wardens hadn’t been built for one-on-one combat, he knew. Especially not shield wardens. A frightening proposition when considered against the fact that the brawler class had literally been described as a one-on-one specialist.
“This is clearly a very tactical fight we’re witnessing, folks. But is that any surprise coming from our champion? Show her what you think of that!”
The audience roared in response to the announcer, several jumping to their feet and pumping fists in the air. It was safe to say Titus did not have home field advantage.
“Level fifty,” Nassus said, her taunting tone clear even if her voice was barely audible over the roar of the crowd. “That’s far too low level to have any hope of winning this thing. You had to know that coming in, right?” She shrugged. “It won’t make beating you any less satisfying, though.”
Titus moved to close the distance between them as she spoke, but she mirrored each of his steps, staying just out of his melee range.
“You’re not gonna beat me by running all day.”
She smirked at that.
“Fair enough.”
She lunged toward him, then when he raised his shield, sidestepped away. Titus turned to follow, keeping his shield faced toward her and no doubt hoping to catch an attack on it. They spun in almost a complete circle, Nassus leading and Titus fighting to keep up. He was just quick enough, just able to keep enough of his shield between them. Until Nassus changed tactics.
She sprung forward and planted a foot against the sloped surface of one of the collapsed walls littered across the arena.
Ability: Launch
High dexterity launches the user high into the air.
A spiderweb of cracks shot through the wall beneath her foot, then she exploded upwards in a graceful arc.
“Look at her go!” the announcer said, awe clear in his voice. “Now that’s a jump!”
Nassus slipped into a backflip, then landed directly behind Titus.
Ability: Mano A Mano
A ‘trap and scrap’ ability, Mano A Mano locks the user and one target together for a short time.
The chains around Nassus’ back unwound, then shot forward and wrapped around Titus’ torso, linking the two of them together with only a half stride between them. The brawler wasted no time, then, unleashing another Frenzied Barrage and landing three solid hits.
“Oh, the big guy’s in trouble now!” The announcer made it sound like Titus was doomed. All things considered, he might be right. Titus was far from in a good spot.
Titus growled, spun around, and pulled his shield up. Nassus danced to the side, fists at the ready as she looked for an opening. They spun in another circle, the chains between them keeping them close.
Titus struck forward with a hammer strike. Nassus shrugged it off – only taking three percent damage – and punched back. Titus was ready, and made to block with his shield. Nassus directed the punch wide at the last moment, avoiding hitting Titus’ shield and giving him
