Titus dragged Nassus right back to continue his assault. This time, she seemed to panic, and instead of retreating, once she was on her feet she attacked without thinking, lashing out with Frenzied Barrage. The opening strikes connected – and Improved Volt Field slapped back a few percent of damage – before Titus abandoned his attack in favor of blocking with his shield. He caught the last two punches of Frenzied Barrage on it and then a wallop of a blow as Nassus activated a new ability with panic in her eyes.
Ability: Pyroclastic Pulverization
A high-damage attack with knockback and damage over time that bypasses armor.
She raised both fists, interlocked above her head, then slammed them down. Titus activated Reflection at the last moment, then took the brunt of the attack. The ground beneath him collapsed inward a bit, as if an explosive amount of force has passed through him and into it. That wasn’t all, though. Something molten and hissing was flowing from Nassus’ fists. Magma, Kaiden realized as the oozing inferno poured around the edges of Titus’ shield and down onto his head and shoulders.
He growled and backed away, health bar flashing as he fought to wipe the magma from his helmet’s visor. Reflection had thrown twenty percent of the damage from Nassus’ ability back at her, but it only worked on damage absorbed by a shield. The damage over time from the magma was only hurting Titus.
There was a moment of calm as Titus and Nassus both seemed to recover from the flurry. For the most part, Titus had come out on top. Well, he’d taken a ton of damage – was down to thirty-four percent health now – but he’d also dealt a good bit in return. Nassus was also low with forty-five percent health remaining. Still, Kaiden knew, it was more than a comfy enough lead to clinch a victory. The odds were not in Titus’ favor. Though, blocking Nassus’ last flurry had definitely given him more charge, so at the very least he could continue attacking without having to throw himself into an electrified wall again.
Nassus took in the scene around her and a look of disappointment crept onto her face.
“You’re a tricky punk, I’ll give you that,” she said, but even from the stands Kaiden could hear the uncertainty in her voice. She seemed disappointed Titus had shaken her with his taunts and sudden attacks. Disappointed that she’d panicked and played into his strategy by attacking his shield.
All that considered, maybe there’s a chance for Titus to pull out a win?
“Come on, big guy, you got this!” Kaiden shouted, pumping a fist in the air and cheering him on. Thorne and Zelda rose as well to join him. And, to Kaiden’s amazement, a few others did as well. Previously, most of the cheering had been for Nassus, but it looked like Titus’ clever use of the electrified wall had won some more of the audience over to his side. They joined in now, their voices echoing through the stadium loudly enough that the big man looked up for a moment and smiled. Nassus, on the other hand, let a massive frown stretch across her features. A look of hurt betrayal rose in her features then boiled over into a scowl. The audience had turned on her, or at least, enough of it to mess with her confidence. The scowl broke, and for a moment, Kaiden saw fear in her face.
“Imagining what it’ll feel like when you lose to me?” Titus asked, pressing a verbal advance. “Spoiler alert: not good.”
Nassus swallowed hard, then tried to steel herself. Her supporters in the audience chose that moment to make themselves heard. Their shouts and cheers fought against Titus’ newfound fans, then slowly drowned them out.
The Maximus fans cheered as loud as they could, chanting their champion’s name over and over in a rapid rhythm.
“Nassus! Nassus! Nassus!”
That seemed to steady her a bit, but even Kaiden could see her confidence was gone.
“Nassus! Nassus! Nassus!”
“Kick his assus!” someone shouted from a few rows back.
“That’s right! Let your champion hear you!” the announcer egged the audience on.
But even as the cheers rose louder and louder, Nassus seemed to shake more and more.
She’s afraid of letting them down, Kaiden realized.
Titus couldn’t have cared less about the audience. He’d chosen his strategy and played it well. His opponent was off her mental game. He charged, coming in fast and swinging the whole way. He and Nassus exchanged blows back and forth, trading hit points for hit points. She was higher level, so each of her hits did more damage. Still, her blows were wild and many of them missed. Titus was taking the brunt of the damage, but his focus was laser sharp. He’d been here before, just not in Nova – in the real world. His health ticked away but he kept attacking. More of his blows landed than Nassus’ and he caught several of hers on his shield. By the time his opponent noticed she wasn’t doing as much damage as she wanted the disparity between their health totals had largely evened out. Titus was down to twenty percent but Nassus wasn’t far behind, sitting at twenty-eight percent.
Nassus backed away from the engagement, trying to figure out where she’d gone wrong. Titus didn’t give her much time to think.
He turned and ran.
Nassus’ eyes lit up at the sight of her foe retreating and she couldn’t resist pursuing. She struck out with a Chain Lash, then followed it with Mano A Mano. Her chains shot forward and caught Titus, then dragged her up behind him. She tore into his exposed back with a series of blows.
Then, all at once, Titus looked over his shoulder and smiled.
“Don’t let go,” he said. “Oh, that’s right, you can’t.”
Ability: Shield Charge
Titus shot forward, energy pouring into his legs and blasting him across the arena. Nassus was dragged with him,
