9 Joint Break!
On the field.
Medea readied her bow with the utmost focus the moment she'd heard the cue for the start of the match.
She nocked an arrow to her bow and readied the load as she moved swiftly and silently through the shadows of trees and shrubberies in the forest, quickly disappearing from sight.
In a non-official match like this, the players wouldn't bother much with organized movement or specific strategies. Which usually meant that clashes between the two sides would often occur as early as the first sighting of an enemy.
The Fielders and Solvers of both sides would tread the path to reach the halfway line as fast as possible, while the Rangers would set up a post on the neutral zone (outside tower zones) to give ranged support and try to grasp the pace of the game.
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Medea found her spot on top of a certain tree branch on the outer side of the field.
She located the Fielder and the 2 Solvers from her Red team running through the center field, trying to build-up momentum.
And just as predicted, before long, the first clash of the match happened when the three men from the Blue team consisting of 2 Fielders and 1 Solver appeared to engage their Red team counterpart.
"Charge!" A shout was echoed.
When clashes like this occured, it didn't immediately turn the situation into an all-out brawl. In fact, it became quite systematic.
For example, in the current situation:
The Red team's Fielder blocked the route and engaged the Blue team's Main Fielder in a 1-on-1 in an effort to contain the enemy and prevent him from reaching and harming his Solvers.
Medea saw that shortly after the fight had started, her team's Main Solver also quickly moved around trying to find gaps in the battle that might allow him to pull forward into the enemy's frontmost tower zone.
Now usually, the Second Fielder would be the one responsible in carrying their Solver forward once the Main Fielder was engaged.
But the current Red team didn't have a Second Fielder.
.
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On the halfway line.
Irvine was also following his Main Solver's cue in positioning himself to find the gap.
However, as if noticing that the trio from Red team didn't have a Second Fielder, the Blue team's own Second Fielder rushed forth towards Irvine in an attempt to reduce his HP and eliminate him!
The Solvers' HP could be said to be the team's HP, as without them the team would lose by default.
That was why even though there were many Solvers who'd be competent enough to fight on his own in the pro league. Most of them would still choose avoidance tactic during confrontations.
It was all to maintain their HP as high as possible at all times. They were like the king piece in chess if the king also had to move forward to win.
Although presently the Red team held the benefit in having double that HP amount. They were trading it with the lack of protection from a Second Fielder.
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Noticing the incoming attack from a distance, Medea held up her bow and arrow trying to find the right timing to help this number 7 teammate of hers to escape.
But before she even had the time to provide cover, Irvine's next action surprised everyone.
When the Blue team's Second Fielder reached his attacking range, Irvine also stepped forward in an attempt to engage!
"!"
The Blue team's Second Fielder was wielding a dual baton with both his hands.
When he noticed that the Solver he'd targeted was also approaching him, he didn't hesitate to swing one of his two weapons overhead with full force to neutralize him!
*SWISH*
*BAM!*
However,
"!!!"
In that split second, the sound of a connecting hit unexpectedly didn't originate from the fully-swung baton.
Instead, it had come from the opposition.
Irvine who had seen the outstretched hand of the oncoming Second Fielder, had swiftly reacted with a counter blow to the elbow joint of the Fielder's striking arm!
His left hand was raised in an uppercut motion before precisely hitting the opponent's exposed right elbow at the time of the strike!
The downward swinging motion combined with the connecting uppercut caused the Second Fielder to feel a sudden jolt throughout his right arm, stopping his movement momentarily.
[Joint Break]!
This was one of Irvine's favorite move in his later years as a pro player.
The move targeted the vulnerable joints of either the opponent's exposed elbows, knees, or shoulders to temporarily incapacitate them and disable their movements.
Executing this move required a good hand-to-eye coordination and precise timing to achieve the desired effect in a fast-paced combat environment.
Although the damage to the enemy's HP would be minimal because the joints had too little coverage from the exosuit's damage sensor, the mini-stun after-effect had, on many occasions, more than makes up for it in matches.
Unfortunately,
With his previous position as a Guard in the League, there hadn't been many chances for him to show the efficacy of this move.
The Guard position required the player to have a more knockback effect that pushed opponents away with their techniques.
Guards needed to be able to push Solvers away from towers, and Fielders away from their Solvers.
Stunning, grappling, and keeping an opponent in-place was more of a Fielder's fighting style than a Guard. As such, this technique of his hadn't had many times to shine in a match.
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Back on the field.
Not wanting to let go of the precious gap in the opponent's defense that he'd created, Irvine took the initiative and made his move.
While the Blue team's Second Fielder still looked somewhat stunned, he followed through with a stomping kick towards the Fielder's right knee with his left foot!
*STOMP*
"Ugh...!"
It was yet another [Joint Break] aimed towards the knee.
And just like that, once again the Fielder began to lose his freedom of movement and even his balance from the second strike.
He was brought down into a kneeling position through the sheer force of the stomp. Which prompted another chance for Irvine to perform a counter.
With the help of gravity that tilted the Fielder's head downward, Irvine finished his chain of moves with an uppercut to the chin, completing his 3-hit combo within a full second of their bout.
*BANG!* *WHOOSH*
That final uppercut pushed the Blue team's Second Fielder flying across the air for another couple seconds or so.
And as if planned beforehand, the direction of his thrown figure was heading towards the fighting place of the 2 Main Fielders from both the Red and Blue teams.
His body crashed onto the unprepared Blue team's Main Fielder successfully, breaking apart the current stalemate and allowing the Red team's Fielder to take a step back from the enemy.
Irvine knew that now was the perfect time.
"RUN!" He shouted through his comms for all his teammates to hear.
Of course, the message was only intended for his Fielder and Main Solver fighting on the halfway line.
Hearing such cue, the surprised looks on both his Main Solver and Fielder quickly disappeared as the three of them, including Irvine, broke into a sprint towards the enemy's side of the field!
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On the distance,
Unlike the trio who hadn't had much luxury to get surprised, Medea was standing dumbfoundedly with her bowstring pulled.
She was still looking at the previous spot of the fight with a blank look on her face.
'Did he... plan all of that??'
The battle had ended too fast even for her,
From the time Irvine began his counter-attack at the Blue team's Second Fielder, until his last blow that had sent the enemy flying towards their Main Fielder. Everything was executed perfectly in less than 5 seconds.
'That move and that speed...' It was as if she'd been put in a trance.
But before she could analyze further on what had happened, her comms picked up another voice from that number 7 Solver,
"Hey, keep the halfway line busy for me. We'll be aiming directly for a section break!" Irvine's voice resounded through her helmet speaker.
'Section break! Right, he's also a Solver...'
*sigh*
Medea had understood his intention.
Right now, there were 2 Solvers from the Red team heading for the Blue team's first tower.
If she managed to occupy the currently downed Main and Second Fielder before they regained their footings, it would be possible for her team to dismantle the whole upper section in one go before retreating.
Of course, solving more would've been difficult since the Blue team would recover sooner or later.
And even if they didn't, the Middle and Rear Guards could activate their Disablers to move up the zones and prevent Irvine and the other two from causing further damage.
In a sense, Battle Arena was like a tug-of-war.
Two teams would fight for control of the momentum on the halfway line, and the team who managed to grasp it would push through to make the best of their time before the wave was turned eventually.
Because even with superpowers, there's always advantage in numbers. On their side of the field, the enemy's Guards could cross each other's zones by only sacrificing seconds off their Disablers.
Before long, even after excluding the Rangers, the fight would become a 3 vs 6, where the 3 from the advance group would get pushed back again to the halfway line if they didn't want to get eliminated.
And then the cycle would repeat itself until one side disassembled all the other side's towers or the time's up.
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Medea's job now was to keep the Blue team's trio plus their Ranger from reinforcing their tower zone and pushing Irvine and the others back to the halfway line.
As Irvine had said, she needed to buy enough time for her 2 Solvers to dismantle at least the upper sections before going back.
Knowing her task, Medea took a deep breath before readjusting her jumbled state of mind.
Her eyes turned serious as she once again aimed her arrow towards the halfway line.
This time, it would be even easier for her to focus since the view was not obstructed by her teammates fighting and running around the area.
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On the first tower zone of the Blue team's side.
Through his helmet's interface, Dylan had seen that his Second Fielder's HP had experienced a sudden drop from 100% to 89% in combat!
And when he saw three black and red silhouettes heading towards his tower in full speed, he knew that the Blue team had lost their first fight for momentum.
'Well, it's to be expected with a Ranger like Dormer... Especially with them having a full 7-man team now.' He muttered under his breath.
Even as the silhouettes were getting closer, he could see that his Main Fielder's and Solver's HPs were still decreasing ever so slowly following the sound of splitting winds from a distance.
[95%, 92%...]
If he focused his eyes, he could recognize a needle-sized shadow of an arrow ripping across the space towards an area on the halfway line.
'She's still attacking...!' He could do nothing but grit his teeth.
"No matter, they're not getting past me easily!"
Just like their previous matches, the main reason they always ended in a tie on their win-lose count was because the Red team lacked scoring powers.
Their strongest player was a Ranger who could win most battles on the halfway line, but their follow-through on the tower zones was a lot weaker than the Blue team's.
Hence, in their previous matches, the Red team had always had more chances in winning the halfway line battles, but they had also experienced more push backs than the Blue team.
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Unbeknownst to the players in the match,
On the first floor railings of the Arena field, a figure was watching the match together with Scott the receptionist by his side.
"Ha-ha... I didn't know you'd be here this early today owner!" Scott scratched the back of his head guiltily as if he'd been caught slacking off.
"Today's the Grand Opening, why wouldn't I come early?" The owner of Orthos Gym, Mister Faulkes, stated matter-of-factly.
"...So that is a new member signing up for the 1-week free trial?"
"Yes sir... Truth be told, even I didn't know he was THAT good, I thought he's just an Arena fan like me." Scott explained.
The owner had arrived early enough to see the stellar performance of Irvine downing the Blue Team's Second Fielder a second after their bout. Furthermore, he even managed to disrupt the stalemate on his Fielder's side of the battlefield by aiming his blow towards it.
Ambushed by his teammate's body being hurled at him, the Blue team's Main Fielder didn't have enough time to stop the Red team's trio from passing before getting a headshot from Medea's arrow.
The timing of their teamwork was almost impeccable.
"Strong tactical awareness and combat prowess, a young talent indeed..." He commented, "Did you ask which college he's from?"
"Err, sir... He's still a senior in high school, the same as Miss Dormer."
"I see..."
"...He's what!!?" The owner had a delayed reaction as he turned his head at the revelation.
This was way beyond his expectation!
Even if Irvine was a college freshman, he could still be considered a talented prodigy with that kind of skills.
Also, if he was in college, with almost a year of experience training and playing for a college Arena team, his previous performance could at least be understandable.
But it's a whole different measure if he was a high school senior!
As an avid fan of Battle Arena and owner of a high-end gym, Faulkes could see that the guy with the number 7 on his back was in no way a lesser player than the current Medea.
'Oh my god! Did I hit another jackpot?? He's a high school student!' The boss couldn't believe his own luck.
"Hey!" He suddenly called out to Scott.
"Yes boss!"
"Has he signed the membership?"
"N-no sir, Mister Dylan insisted that he played first since they're lacking a player."
"Dylan...? Good! We should just forget about the membership then!" The boss suddenly showed a happy grin and laughed with anticipation.
'Hoho, another Starseed... Thank you God!'
