New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

She had effectively just countered a melee player at a melee distance! This was huge!

Most mage players knew they could never emulate the feat, but the possibility of it being feasible was already groundbreaking. Close combat was a mage's biggest weakness.

If there was a solution to it, that effectively made mages practically invincible! Some players stopped watching the tournament, then and there, logging back into the game, to try to reproduce what they had seen.

It would take months before another player copied this feat, and it was not a possibility for run-of-the-mill players.

Khalor looked at Phoenix, grinning.

'She used it,' He thought.

He had been waiting to see if she had mastered it this time around, too. He was glad she had, since that meant he would have an ounce of a challenge if she won this bout.

In his memories, Phoenix had been the first tournament winner last time, but this time around, with him here, that would change. There was also the possibility she didn't make it to the finals at all, with Astaroth present.

He snapped out of his thoughts, focusing back on the fight happening below.

'Show what you can do, little butterfly,' Khalor said internally, smiling.

Astaroth, for his part, was also grinning madly. His meld was running out, and his already strong opponent had just become even more dangerous.

This was the type of situation he loved being in.

'We forge the greatest weapons in the hottest forges,' He said in his mind.

Phoenix had not yet attacked him, apparently taking time to accustom to her new form. Astaroth surmised it was the first time she transformed during combat.

'Damn, she's so impressive,' Astaroth thought, fanboying a little.

While Phoenix was looking at her body, making sure the transformation was complete and successful, Astaroth's melding came undone. Now he was back to his normal stats, and that was a minor problem.

White then spoke in his mind.

'Master. I have an idea' He said, still sounding calm as a cucumber.

'What's your plan?' Astaroth replied.

'Excuse my choice of words, but we will be playing with fire if we do it. Is that alright?' White said.

Astaroth chuckled a bit at the wording, but stayed attentive. It only took a few moments for the wolf to explain his plan to Astaroth, and the man was astounded at what he was being told.

'This plan is more than reckless, it's insane. But if it works, my strength will go up by leaps and bounds again,' Astaroth said to White.

'Are you sure this can work?' he asked.

'I am almost certain, Master,' White responded, certainty in his tone.

'Alright then. We shall try,' Astaroth mentally nodded.

As they finished their mental discussion, that had all happened almost instantly, because of Astaroth using Thousand Thoughts when they started speaking, to buy himself some time.

He summoned out White Death, getting ready to enact this crazy plan. At the same moment, Phoenix seemed to be done inspecting herself.

Only a few seconds had passed, but the players in the stands and behind screens were holding their breath in anticipation. The tension was palpable.

"Are we ready for round two?" Astaroth asked, trying to sound cocky.

"I'm ready, are you?" Phoenix replied, sounding smug.

She had no mouth, currently, but Astaroth could guess she was grinning at him by the tone she used.

"Don't expect an easy victory, even if you are now much more powerful," Astaroth told her, getting low.

He had pulled out his shield and shortsword, and used a lot of mana to enhance the shield and popped up mana skin.

"Don't come crying to me later, after I incinerate you,' Phoenix replied, starting to float in his direction.

She floated slowly, at first, but suddenly sped up, becoming an orange streak of fire, zooming across the arena. Astaroth braced the shield for impact, making sure to look at his opponent at all moments.

She was moving blazingly fast, so it was difficult, but his eyes were used to tracking fast movement, since he was usually the one travelling at that speed.

Phoenix punched out at Astaroth, hitting the shield with her fist. To Astaroth, it felt like a cannonball had just collided with his arm.

'So strong!' He thought, wincing in pain.

His bones were creaking from the impact, and had he not enhanced the shield and used mana skin, he would have lost an enormous amount of health.

Flames washed off the shield as the punch delivered a wave of fire with it. Most of it brushed aside from Astaroth, only heating the air around, but some of it seared his armor.

Astaroth could feel the flames' heat sliding off his form, and it was no stove flame. This fire was hotter than a kiln's flame, and he knew he shouldn't take a direct hit from it.

He glanced at Phoenix's mana bar, and was disappointed for a moment. He had hoped that a skill this powerful would have a massive drain on her mana, but the mana was not ticking down fast enough to his taste.

'And that's my fault,' He quickly remembered.

Had he not taught her the mana breathing technique and the body cleansing, her mana pool would be smaller and she wouldn't have any mana regen.

This would have made fighting with this skill so consuming, it would have lasted a minute or two, at best. But now, from the mana drain he could see, she could keep it active for at least four minutes, if not more.

'This is bad,' He thought.

White Death used the moment of the collision to get behind Phoenix, trying to bite at her nape. He was unsuccessful, since Phoenix was currently much faster than him, and dodged out of the way.

They started a game of tag, with White chasing Phoenix, and her chasing Astaroth. Astaroth stuck to defending against her powerful attacks, making sure never to take them head-on.

This game of tag was tiresome for him, since he didn't have the speed to outrun her, and was constantly having to be careful of her attacks.

His mind was tiring quickly, but he held strong.

'Just a little more, Master,' He heard White's voice in his head.

'I'm trying!' He cried out, every hit from Phoenix almost blowing off his shield arm.

'This better work! I'm getting pummeled over here!' Astaroth exclaimed in his head.

A few seconds later, White shouted in his mind again.

'Master! Now!'

Astaroth grinned.