I used Assess in the little time I had.

  I knew what to expect. The Griidlords of South New York were well known to be deadly. They needed to be. The Towers North and South of the river were constantly at war. The military forces of both cities were well-honed and battle-hardened but ever depleted by the endless fighting. The soldiers of both cities included elites that were amongst the best in all the lands, sharpened and tempered by years of combat. But the bulk of their forces were diminutive, composed of young and green men.

  They were fortunate to have Griidlords of such prowess. Maybe it wasn’t fortune. The Griidlords of both cities were constantly clashing, constantly defeating each other, constantly leveling.

  Subject: Viktor Taurus

  Status: Chosen Sword

  Level: 40

  The four Griidlords were sprinting at us directly. I shuffled my feet, aligning myself with my teammates. I wouldn’t make the same mistake as last time, allowing myself to hurt our maneuvers. There was a strange dance when Griidlords met in battle, suits trying to engage with type advantage on both sides. The opposing Axe was making right for me, just like before.

  Subject: Karen Mornsteel

  Status: Chosen Axe

  Level: 51

  I gaped at the numbers I was seeing. A level 40 and a 51 in the same team? This boded terribly for the conflict we were about to endure. I braced myself for the coming impact of battle. A thought tickled at me that there was no point in even contesting this Orb. We had endured such loss and damage fighting fruitlessly for the previous Orb. I didn’t want the shame or the waste of leading us into another pointless fight.

  The spongy marsh churned beneath the feet of the charging Griidlords. I could see the spray filling the air in their wake, refracting the sunlight into beautiful rainbows behind them.

  I had time to use Assess once more.

  Subject: Jorin Aries

  Status: Chosen Shield

  Level: 45

  This was impossible.

  Just as our lines were about to meet, Mornsteel, the Axe, danced back. In her place charged Aries, the Shield. He was preempting Chowwick’s charge to intercept the advancing Axe. Shield met Shield, but there was no contest. From the moment they made contact, Chowwick was being driven back. Huge glowing shields crashed into each other, the very ground vibrating with the impacts, but it was Chowwick’s hulking form that was smashed back with each blow.

  Magneblade had made a dart for their Sword, Viktor. I felt a small surge of hope. They were separated by substantial levels, but maybe type advantage and luck could bring Viktor down quickly. The Shields would engage in a long battle of attrition, as Shields did. Viktor could maybe be felled quickly. With four against three, perhaps we could overcome the yawning valley between the levels of their team and ours.

  But Viktor took to the air. Almost without effort, Viktor shot straight upward. At first, I thought it was actual flight I was witnessing. But gravity was still tugging at Viktor as he soared above us. Magneblade stumbled through the space that Viktor had occupied and met Mornsteel. His battle axe flashed against hers. Blinding explosions of energy erupted from each contact. But as with Chowwick and Aries, this match was not even. The proud and irrepressibly rageful Magneblade was quickly cowed, being driven back.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I could hear the grunts and cries from Tara as she fought their Arrow. I raised my own sword and deftly moved backward as Viktor landed lightly before me. That leap had been more than just AGILITY; I felt sure it had been a skill on display. It was easy to forget that other Griidlords were employing skills during combat. None could see me using Assess, and yet still I was. These opponents had levels in the 40s and 50s, which meant they possessed 4 or 5 skills each.

  Viktor’s sword flashed at me. I parried quickly and naturally. My swordplay matched his well enough, but the disparity in our powers was overwhelming. Just deflecting his attacks shook my body and made my arms ache.

  I was almost running backward as I tried to fend him off. Roars and explosions sounded around me as weapons clashed and my allies suffered.

  Viktor’s blade speared for my chest, and I barely stepped aside. It whipped back around as he spun his whole body, striking low in an arc. AGILITY carried me into the air and out of range, but no sooner had I struck the ground than he was on me again. It would only be seconds or minutes before he landed a blow with that devastatingly powerful attack.

  I took a heartbeat to check on my friends. Magneblade was hammering wholeheartedly at Mornsteel. He was giving her everything he had, and I was impressed by his spirit. If anything, he only seemed to be fighting harder against the more powerful adversary. But she was fending him off easily, tiring him out. The fight could only last so long.

  A glance at Chowwick caught the moment as he took a terrible pulsing blow. The impact of Aries’s shield didn’t seem to inflict damage so much as kinetic shock. The huge form of Chowwick was lifted off his feet and into the air. He crashed down hard, dazed, his shaking hand grasping to bring his Shield up. Aries let no opportunity slip past and charged. I knew the next moment would see Chowwick take grievous damage.

  Before me, Viktor was reaching back to swing at me again.

  I thought of the waste of all of it. Gods fighting gods in a competition with no winners and no end. Baltizar was right. These suits could be tools for good, tools to rewrite the fate of humanity. Instead, they were engines for greed, each city trying to wrest what it could from another.

  And I thought of the waste I had inflicted by failing to yield against the Cincy suits. It had cost us four days. It had cost us opportunity. It had cost me honor. I had proven time and again that perseverance was a weapon unto itself in my hands. It was time to show that I could learn the opposite lesson as well.

  I let my helm speakers boom as loud as possible; Chowwick would be wreckage in another minute.

  “WE YIELD!”

  It was bitter to feel my knee sinking to the dirt. I let my head sag. It was deflating and vilely humiliating to submit like this. The others had battled enough, had their wins and losses; they knew the ritual. But for me, it might have been the first time in my life I had actually surrendered in a contest.

  The concession to defeat did more to me than that. I felt fires exploding in the recesses of my mind. I felt all the motivations that drove me suddenly pale before a new presence in their midst. I would kneel before this man today, but the day would come when he would bow to me as well. I felt the certainty of that erupting inside me.

  Viktor said nothing. He just paused for a moment before walking casually past me. I raised my head and was relieved to see that Aries had arrested his attack before he could have dealt a more terrible blow to Chowwick. Tara was kneeling as well as the enemy Arrow strolled away from her toward the Orb. Karen let her helm fold back so I could see her face. She eyed me hungrily, predatorily, an Axe hungering for a Sword.

  She said, “Maybe next time, Butcher.”

  Then she passed me as well, walking toward the Orb. Beyond her, Magneblade was rising to his feet. He was vibrating with frustration. I admired him and pitied him for that drive. It took all fear and doubt from him. But he was a slave to it nonetheless. His helmed head turned to me and stayed looking at me. I couldn’t tell what emotion he was expressing.

  We moved away from the lost Orb. I couldn’t count how many Ebbs we had gathered. I had no sense of how long we had been siphoning the Orb. It hadn’t been a grand prize in the first place, but losing two Orbs in a row felt bitter. It was more bitter still for the aspirations I had entered the Falling with.

  I had come into the event with dreams of winning more Flows than Boston had seen in years.

  I left my second battlefield on pace for as poor a season as the city had seen in decades.