Ricochet.
Not a micro, or a macro, but a skill in the game that lets the user bounce their projectiles, with lower damage, of course.
And now, in front of Arkana, is a genius in using the said skill.
His class, Elite Marksman, is a pure gunner and he unlocked more skills in the said class.
As level 20 comes, the first class promotion happens, this is where players can choose the second profession, or promote their class.
And when they hit level 40, they can choose their third promotion, which will promote one class, and will be the precursor of what Epic class they can get at level 50.
Their stats, their skills, and their styles in fighting becomes their precursors, as to what classes they can get.
This gives birth to millions, or billions of Epic classes.
And now, the power of a class, promoted thrice, is being seen on the stage.
He is not the first, but he is one of the surprising ones who took the Professional League.
The bullets that ricocheted created a force so fast that even a skill can be intercepted. And what's more, is that it arrived towards Arkana in a straight manner.
This means that his skill is not something that anyone can laugh at. This is a true marksman, with bouncing bullets.
"Tsk." Arkana clicked his tongue, and created distance. This was not the first time he fought someone with these kinds of methods, and so, he knew what he will do.
Each deck, has four faces, and two "Joker" cards, that open's everyone's way of playing. It may change the game, or control it to your favor. And now, not for the first time, but a new "Joker" is seen.
Arkana's First "Joker": Chain Magic.
Within a second, there were constellation-like patterns that appeared on the air. There were red, orange, yellow and even ones with deeper red colors.
There were two things that can be seen in this magic: the "lines" - which forms the constellation shapes, and the "stars" - orbs that contain mana.
And Arkana, being the magician he is, made something that even his opponents won't be able to read now, or even in the future.
As the chains were created, Arkana waved off his wand, and the "stars" exploded simultaneously. With too many bombs exploding, even Dabi will have a hard time dodging.
And so, what do marksmen do to orbs? They shoot it.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
His sniper did just what it was meant to do. And that is to snipe everything he can see.
As bullets hit the orbs, they explode, and they deal damage to the surroundings, not discriminating against allies or enemies.
And now, it was a battle of attrition.
What will happen first? A bullet hitting a star, or a star exploding.
But that's not all.
The battle is not just two people standing and stepping away, bu they create their attacks, defenses and everything and incorporate it to their next plays.
In short, what the world is seeing now is the culmination of every play they did before, applying it and cleaning up their gameplays, while the viewers only see the simple gun versus magic trope.
The battle, was one-for-one. One hit by Arkana is one hit for Dabi. In short, these two are trading blow for blow.
But then, the two have different powers, and levels, as well as stats; and that's not all.
Arkana, who is the professional, read Dabi's movements ahead, and Dabi, who wanted to read Arkana, was suddenly thrown off.
This gave him a mental stress that while reading Arkana, he has to read his movements too.
So now, instead of one for one, sometimes it becomes two for three, or in other times, one for three, in favor of Arkana.
And this battle was concluded fast when Arkana read the tactics of Dabi.
In other words, the deciding factor of this fight was the experience between the two fighters: one rookie, and one professional. This garnered sympathy for Dabi, but admiration for Arkana due to the fact that he used a hidden card towards a rookie.
This means he went all out, and respected his opponent.
FWOOOSH!
As Dabi came out of the pod, he received applause and admiration. This time, it was heartfelt, and Dabi was overwhelmed, but the stage is not his, and so, he stepped down, and welcomed the next one.
As they walked past each other, the person tapped his shoulder; and walked hurriedly.
Dabi, who was surprised by this, felt his tears flow down from his face. He walked towards his team, holding back the sobs, but his tears proved his innocence, innocence that was taken from him today.
He will have so much to learn about this games.
Looking back, Arkana was almost spent. With his mana reserves at 68%, he can go all out against the next competitor. Although his health is low, only having 39%, he was positive that he can fight well.
And that's the fun in Knockout Stages, you don't know who will you fight against after winning. This gives the players time to strategize, and think for themselves.
By now, the next participant entered the pod, and entered the game.
When the player entered, Arkana was surprised, and almost cursed out.
Outside the game, the cheering of the bleachers got wilder.
It is because the player right now who just entered is one of the Mighty 10.
The Class is a White Battle Mage.
Weapon is a curved blade without handle, but it divides itself into many parts, making it look like flying knives, yet act like whips.
The most notable in this character is wearing almost nothing special. His armor, boots and other equipments are made rare tier at best.
This was already featured in too many interviews, but he just said that he did not need it.
Or, as everyone says, he won't use it.
Because the blade he is using, "Dragon Scale", is a weapon suitable for defense and offense.
If magicians use mana for magic, then weapon users use another type of energy: Aether.
And this person uses aether to it's fullest.
[3]
[2]
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[Start!]
Without further ado, Arkana used his two "Jokers".
Chain Magic, and Replication Magic.
Replication Magic is a magic where the user replicates another magic he, or others used.
This time, he replicated the chain magic, and created a more vast connection of magic.
But then, the Dragon Scales was slashed, and the half of the said connections were severed instantly.
Like a sky having stars, but suddenly, clouds covered half of them, and they were nowhere to be seen.
"EXPLOSION!"
Arkana shouted, and the remaining half exploded. He teleported back, and casted another spell, but then, he was surprised that a "scale" hit him in his hand.
With the scale hitting him, all of the other "scales" went towards the scale that hit. They simultaneously went towards the direction of Arkana, and with one sweep of a hand, the Dragon Scale came back to life again, and slashed at Arkana.
Seeing this, Arkana used his explosion magic to gain distance, but then, the scales scattered again, and this time, all of them hit Arkana.
The game now became a professional tag, and the prey is Arkana.
Everytime he tries to do a spell, he is met with challenges, and will be in a predicament.
Seeing this, Arkana pulled all stoppers and decided to take all the damage, and make it blow for blow, but the Dragon Scales protected it's master, and damaged Arkana at the same time.
And now, the final slash downed on him, with Arkana only dealing 3% health damage.
And that was it for the second game. Shocking, but was expected.
[Victory!]
As Arkana looked up, he saw the play that happened, and the overall game that went by. This, in fact, created the legend of the most talented player of the game.
The rookie who toppled over the era of a champion, the rookie who made gods trip down, and the rookie who created waves, and now one of the strongest;
The Mighty 8th, "Rookie God", Faustin.
His name was known by everyone, and even professionals sometimes gets antsy when fighting him.
In the past, Faustin was a rookie that never lost. In his first year, he lead Glory to championship, and won the title. This went on for three years, before the others' plans started to toll him.
The game nerfed his skills, but his micro is just that good that the most notable damage he got was from a 5 vs 1 fight, and they still almost won, but he was hit by a wide-area magic, and died. That was the first time his health bar fell down to 0, and was the time he got the title of the Mighty 8.
Immortal, Dragon Above Men, Dragon God.
These were his monikers at first, but, it all changed as the fans suddenly remembered that it was his rookie year, and so, they called him Rookie God.
Faustin is a silent type player, but his control over his body in the game is superb. And, another thing that made him stand out is his weapon that is omnipotent, and can be used for offense and defense.
This made the fights truly exciting, as people always wanted to know who will make the Rookie God bleed.
But, La Floras has other plans.
After Arkana went out of the pod, the next player entered the game. As soon as he entered, the character loaded, and everyone is in for another treat.
La Floras, has a wide base of people, and from that base, they select a few to nurture, and become pros. The next player is such.
His class is a knight, that can be said as the epitome of annoying. When pros face him, they surrender, or the broadcasts sometimes go boring.
Because of him, Tablet Inc. stated that every fight must be only 10 minutes short, and if they can not finish it by then, the one that dealt the highest damage wins.
Annoying versus annoying.
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[Start!]
The knight ran towards Faustin, and with a spin, he used his shield to bash the Dragon Scales; but that's not all, the knight swung his greatsword and a dark aura enveloped the sword.
Faustin tried to block it, but the Knight's skills bared it's fangs.
[2/40 Scales are Silenced. Unusable for 5 seconds.]
But, Faustin won't take it just lying down. A barrage of blades rained upon the knight, and almost all of the blades hit him.
The others were Silenced, the others hit, the others were dodged.
As people saw this development, although it was fun, they can clearly predict who is gonna win the battle.
Unless, Sarin, the "Silence Knight", flips the game around.
Sarin was one of the aces they prepared against Faustin, and his Passive Skill: All Shall be Silent.
This passive gives the owner 50% to silence a player. And, because weapons are parts of a player, they can also be incapacitated, and cannot be used.
In truth, Sarin was one of the very best players for grinding opponents, and because of him annoying the enemy, sometimes, they just crash out and lose.
And with this, he can Silence Faustin's blades, and he can open some attacks in between the silences; and he can procure the silence anytime.
With this, he can slowly grind Faustin, but what he did not expect is that Faustin will do the same thing he does, but better.
The Dragon Scales can attack and defend, so what will happen if Faustin divided it into two groups, one for attacking, and one for soaking up the Silences that Sarin gives?
The answer is Sarin will have a taste of his own medicine.
Sarin panicked when he saw this, and tried to create distance. Little did he know that Dragon Scales can extend.
But that was what he was looking for.
Using his joker, he jumped forward and he slammed the shield to the floor.
Sarin's Exclusive Spell: Silent Field.