Chapter 281 - 281 The Fire Masters

"The first pair of families to hit the arena are the Khan Family and the Hiei Family! The two with the highest bets so far!" he announced, exitedly. Noah saw as the rest of the group tensed up, while the host directed the other families down of the arena with his assistants.

"Now, are you excited to see how this new group from the Kahn family fights?!" the host cheered on the microphone, though there was almost no answer from the audience. After all, this was an indoors event only to some reserved guests. His job was making the recording entertaining for those watching the broadcast. "Will the Hiei Family, who used to be favorites up to a few months ago, finally take this change to shine?"

While he spoke to the public, all other families had now left the arena, putting themselves on the small areas reserved to them in the area below, on the 8 other sides of the venue other than that where they had come in from. Noah used this time to look at the make-up of the group they were fighting first. The Hiei family was clearly focused on power, not on balance like his. It was not what they would call a PVE group like Noah's, made to fight fortresses. It was more akin to the groups seen in the game Valorwatch. A group made with PVP in mind. Their leader had a strange appearance, with a long black hair combed upwards and a white bandana covering only his forehead. He did not seem to wear any armor, only loosely fit black clothes, pointing Noah to think he was focused on agility, despite the long sword hanging on his waist.

'This guy looks weird, I better be careful about him,' Noah thought, watching the young man.

Aside from him, the group was the average battle-oriented group. Three glass cannons, fighters focused in dealing the most amount of damage without any consideration for their own defense, including their leader himself, five warriors, all wearing heavy armor, probably to serve as a buffer while the more aggresive swordsmen chose their targets, three rogues, all dressed in a way similar to Noah's group's scout, but also carrying bows, and four mages in the back line. 'At least one of these is bound to be a healer, finding who it is will make our life easier in the long run...' he thought, trying to anticipate the fight.

"Forget about what they look. All people from the Hiei family have fire blessings. Those with bows can probably use it to power their long range attacks. Be careful with their leader. He is Gaint Hiei, he can set his limbs on fire when attacking." Michael's words took Noah off guard. He would never have expected that to be the case, but now that he knew it, his strategy for dealing with them would certainly change.

"So, how are we fighting them this time?" A mage asked the leader, making Noah realize his group had already fought this opponent at least once before.

"Same as we fight all our enemies. Avoid getting hit, keep pressure until they open a gap in their defenses. Noah, I'll be counting on you to deal with them swiftly when that time comes."

Noah nodded, understanding Michael's words. In a sense, based on the explanation he was given, it made a lot of sense to treat them like monsters in a fortress. All their blessings were related, and since their formation was very much based in fights against blessed, their strategies were more or less predictable for Noah. "Protecting our healer will be key this fight,' he said out loud out of habit, making those around him nod in agreement.

"Yes, protecting her will be the key to our victory. The battle should be announced soon, remember your roles and do not ket pushed off the arena!" The way Michael said this made Noah guess how they had lost to these people before. In a fight like this, getting pushed out of the arena was indeed the worst way to lose, aside from surrendering in the very beginning of the match.

In the meantime a pair of helpers went around the arena, taking the fighters' phones and belongings for safe-keeping during the fight. The families that had already gone to their own booths had no such problem, but for them who had stayed onto the arena since the very beginning, because they knew they could need them at some point of the night, having someone collect the items was necessary.

"There we go! The bets for this fight are now closed. Let us start the countdown!"

10

Noah looked around to see everyone drawing their weapons. Contrary to the usual strategy, since there was no cover anywere around, his team's healer walked into the middle of the backline of the group, trying to cover herself from enemy fire. Having someone whose blessing was able to create some cover would be paramount. Michael also moved towards the back, driving his bow and taking aim to get a perfect first shot.

He saw as the enemy started jossling around, readying themselves for the fight. It was at this point he felt something was off. both his group and the other were posicioning themselves as if there were barriers between them, stoping direct attacks with arrows. It just didn't make any sense to him. There was no use in trying to talk to anyone around, since the noise created by the countdown itself was impossible to overcome. As he looked ahead, his eyes locked with those of a woman from the other team, she was a mage, all the way behind their group, only a few inches from the edge. She was the definition of a back-liner if there is one. But, more importantly, she looked scared. She was clearly new to this, just like himself.

'I need to drive people unconscious... Killing them would've been much easier.' Noah rolled his eyes. His powers were not really prone to taking people down without killing them. For one, his fire would burn people to death more often than not, and even if he were to stop it, the person would develop large scars if not treated immediately by the utmost best. He also felt there was no place for him to have any sort of uncertainty. He had bet his money on winning, if he were to lose because he pittied his enemies, he'd certainly be the king of all idiots.

As he took his time looking around and planning on what to do as soon as the fight started, he realized Michael was staring at the ground, instead of at the enemy. There was something about this that sent his attention straight to it. The floor was made by small concrete tiles, some clearly sliced in diagonals. Could it be that there were traps around? He didn't know what to expect.

By this time all the enemies had already drawn their weapons. Most of those on the other side used blades. But something caught his attention. One of the rogues on the other team had his dagger drawn, and it was set on fire. Noah made a mental note to deal with this guy at some point. But more importantly, the woman he saw earlier was distancing herself, as the group slowly made its way forward, inching on the line that separated the start zone from the polygon in front were most of the fight would take place.

And suddenly, without any warning, walls burst from the floor in a wave from the middle of the area outwards. They were not dense enough to form a maze, but enough to make fighting head on a nightmare. Noah smiled as he stared at the woman in the enemy backline one last time, before the walls rose between them completely obscuring his view. But by that time, he already knew exactly where she was standing, and he'd be going all out.

Not exatly all out. He would hold most of his powers in order to use at the most appropriate time, but delivering the first blow with them while having the enemy unaware would be very important. More importantly, since she was standing practically still, there was a great chance for him to strike nearly unnoticed. But the question was, would the others just rush forward like he expected? Or were they trying to trap them?

There was no way they would've known about his powers, moreover, most of the families looked down on his Khan Family for their absence in the last few weeks and the whole sucession ordeal. Taking down one of their players before the battle even began would be a massive advantage. Noah steeled his resolve to make the bet. Most of his team was already waiting for the countdown to end to rush forward and secure good positions.

Michael nodded, making his uncertainties go away. It was not time for him to be thinking too much about what could be. The battle was about to start. 'I'll keep the imps for later. I don't think I need to use them this time around, and not using them will give me a great advantage later. Furrowing his brows, he nodded at his fellow scout, and looked back at his team healer as if telling her to wait for him.

1

A disturbing smile appeared on his face, as he held his knife out with one hand, while a small ball of fire appeared on the other. He was ready to make another bet.

"Let it begin!" The host's voice ecchoed for a split second, as the count-down times for the battle appeared on all screens.

And Noah vanished in a burst of flames.