Chapter 5

"Would you all be interested in trying out for my guild?"

—The words that escaped Helmet's mouth, through his helmet, and into Jay and his friend's ears sent shockwaves through all of them. He proudly teased them all with the Slayer's Crest Decaled-cards as well. Jay's thoughts wandered as he pondered the situation. The three friends were once again taken aback by Helmet's words.

"W-WHAT?!"

"W-WHAT?!"

"W-WHAT?!"

'Here we go again...' Helmet thought.

Axel clanks his gauntlets together, setting them on fire in pure excitement.

"You mean—We're in?!" Axel yells.

"Is this an elaborate prank?" Ivy says, looking around, "So where are the cameras?"

Jay, as excited as he is, realizes the depth of the situation before his friends do.

"Guys, calm down..." He starts.

Axel and Ivy, bouncing off the walls with enjoyment, slow their roll and turn to Jay. Their happy-go-lucky expressions quickly turned to confusion in the heat of the moment.

"What do you mean calm down?"

"Yea!! what's the big idea?!"

"...Because I said 'tryout for.' I'm recruiting you, not hiring you."

Ivy and Axel turn to Helmet as he mutters these words. Jay looks on in understanding. There was no way Helmet would go out of his way to hire them for the guild. As soon as they realize this, Ivy and Axel both hunch over in disappointment, giving inaudible mumbles here and there.

"The Slayer's Pack—" Helmet starts. Jay and his friends pay close attention to Helmet as he starts to monologue.

"—One of the biggest Guilds in the country, which has direct ties to the esports community. It houses ten teams inside of its walls: «The Ravens», «The Wolves», «The Dragonborn», «The Jurassic», «The Mammoths», «The Pythons», «The Sharks», «The Cicadas», «The Pandas», and «The Stallions»—"

Helmet continued, watching Jay, Axel, and Ivy as he explained the Guild's functions. Jay didn't realize how many teams were actually in The Slayer's Pack, usually only hearing about the number one team, The Ravens.

"—To be a part of the Guild, you must try out for it. To be able to do that, you need a referral from one of the Guild's «Guildmasters». These are the captains for the ten teams in the Guild. I just so happen to see potential in all of you, and I am also the captain of The Wolves.—"

"—These cards in my hand," Helmet says as he waves the three cards he had pulled out of his jacket previously, "—Are referrals for next week's tryout session."

"Prove to me that you're worthy of becoming a Slayer, and I'll happily hand one out to you. Having a referral for a tryout is pretty rare, but it doesn't mean you've made the cut either."

The once happy atmosphere around the four players has changed, gaining some tension and understanding between the three friends. Ivy looks to Helmet as he swings the cards back and forth, gesturing one of them to get one.

"...and how do we prove we are 'Slayer-material'?" She asks.

"That's pretty simple, really..." Helmet says, extending the cards towards Ivy's direction.

"Just take one of these referrals."

Jay hesitates for a moment after hearing how easy Helmet put it. Just take a referral? What trick did Helmet have up his sleeve?

Axel looks at the cards that Helmet held out freely for him to take. In the back of his mind, he thought something might be amiss but decided to roll with it anyway.

"Just take one, huh?" Axel says, walking towards Helmet.

As Axel takes a step forward and reaches out his hand to one of the cards, Helmet takes a step back. Slightly confused, Axel takes another step forward, and Helmet responds again by taking another step back.

"What's your deal??" Axel says, making lunges for the cards. Each time Axel did so, Helmet would jump backward, avoiding Axel in a close distance.

"I never said I would give them to you. That would be pointless." Helmet says, "Hurry up. I'm on schedule, and I don't want to be late for a meeting tomorrow."

This made Axel beyond frustrated.

*Fine then*!!"

Axel's gauntlets, full of fire, start to glow brighter and brighter. As Axel prepares his move, "Fire Fist," Helmet immediately recognizes the stance from when he used it on him before.

"You know, that move has such a long build-up, an enemy would spot it out in seconds." Helmet tells Axel.

Axel is surprised but continues with his move and commits fully to it. Helmet had to be bluffing.

"Shut up!! *Fire Fist!!*" He yells, throwing a right hook with his gauntlet, sending out a fist-shaped projectile towards Helmet.

But Helmet had already moved from his last position, and Fire Fist completely missed. Axel is stunned, realizing that Helmet had predicted its trajectory before he even threw it out.

"like I said, easy to predict." Helmet says, glancing over his shoulder to Axel.

Ivy runs next to Axel and prepares her own move.

"I won't disappoint you!" Ivy says to Helmet, grabbing Axel's shoulder for a brief moment. She then reaches for an arrow from her quiver.

'You already showed me your power and weakness...' Helmet thinks to himself.

Ivy readies her bow with three different arrows on its riser, pulls back the string, and sends them all flying in Helmet's direction while also running up close to him.

As the arrows steadily reach their target, Ivy snaps her fingers. As she does this, her arrows—at their tips—burst into flames.

'*Triple Threat!*' She thinks as her move soars to Helmet.

Instead of moving out of the way, Helmet grabs the right side of his long jacket and cloaks himself in one swift motion. As the arrows reach Helmet, all of them stick into him.

"Nice!! Direct hit!!" Axel announces.

Helmet, still cloaked from the attack, brushes each arrow off with his bare hands. Jay looks on as this is all happening. Not a single arrow breached his jacket!

"You're a Life Aspect user, so when you grabbed your friend, I knew you were gonna transfuse his Fire Aspect into your shots." Helmet says to Ivy, "Should've stuck with the whole tree stuff, which I'm assuming is your real power."

Helmet was right. Axel's Aspect is fire, but Ivy's is more convoluted. Her Life Aspect lets her direct plant-life, but also the Aspect of other players. She uses this to her advantage by putting other players' power into her arrows.

Ivy and Axel both back away.

"You two sure know how to coordinate. That's a given. But if your opponent knows what you're about to do, why bother?" Helmet says as a tip.

Jay knew it was his turn, as Ivy and Axel were both taking a breather. He unsheathes his sword and starts running towards Helmet.

'I get it!' Jay thought, 'He's not gonna fight back, but applying force is necessary for him to drop his guard.'

'The swordsman's turn, huh? Let's see if you know «IT» as I assumed yesterday...' Helmet thinks.

Helmet quickly draws one of his handguns and—without hesitation—shoots at Jay, who is still making his way to Helmet. Jay was caught entirely off guard and didn't know how to react. The bullet was so fast he could barely see it.

The bullet quickly approached Jay's left leg and buried itself into his thigh. Jay winced at the pain for a split second but continued to Helmet's position, limping away.

'So he doesn't know «IT», but he can take a beating...' Helmet thought,

'Why hasn't he used his Aspect yet?'

Jay was close enough to swing his sword at Helmet, and quickly thrusts his blade at Helmet's left hand, which was still carrying the referrals. He misses since Helmet quickly backs away. Anticipating this, Jay throws his sword at Helmet's face.

It was a hail mary that would have to pay out in some way. Helmet hadn't made contact back with the ground when Jay had launched his weapon to him. With one of his legs out of commission, he saw this as the only strategy that could work.

Helmet leaned as far back as he could to dodge this strange move, avoiding the spinning blade. The sharp edges of the sword nearly skimmed across Helmet's brand new visor. As he arches his back to a straight position again, looking up from this move, Helmet notices something odd.

Jay had backed entirely away, and he looked generally happy. Ivy and Axel are both still taking a break behind him, so Helmet was confused.

"You gave up your weapon and put your team at a disadvantage. What's amusing about your situation?"

"I did throw my sword, but—" Jay says, holding up his right hand, "I managed to swipe these away while you had no idea!"

Helmet looked at Jay's hand and knew exactly what he meant. This strange maneuver wasn't in vain, and it benefited Jay's team way more now.

Jay had bested Helmet, and took all three referrals.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

"Well, you guys all win, I guess. Make sure not to lose those." Helmet says.

Jay and his friends were beyond happy to participate in the tryouts, and Axel was clanking his gauntlets together in a fast motion.

"I can't wait to show up everyone who's going! We tangled with a Guildmaster!!" Axel states.

"Well, he did only shoot once at Jay's leg..." Ivy compromises.

"Not to mention he completely dodged all of our attacks," Jay says.

Helmet looked on at Jay. From the way Jay had just explained to everyone how he got the referrals, it was a Ludacris plan.

Jay threw his sword at Helmet, knowing his first and second attacks were going to miss, so to anticipate the double dodge from Helmet, Jay lunged forward and grabbed the referrals from Helmet's hand when he was in a blind spot—which was when Helmet leaned far back to avoid the sword.

Helmet was impressed, but he's seen way better plays over his career.

"Hey Helmet," Jay starts,

"Were you actually trying?"

"No." Helmet laughs.

All three friends felt aggravated as he said those words. He did only attack once, but they felt sore after hearing him admit he was holding back.

"Ok, but what do we do now?" Jay asks

Helmet turns away from the three players, heads into the park, and then turns around, facing them. The sun was setting, and all of the trees and plants from within the park entrance glowed a bright orange.

"Show up at the southern outskirts of «The Western Wilds». There will be a site in the woods there with a temporary arena next week—"

"—Once every player there with a registered referral gets there, we will explain what the tryouts will hold for all of you." Helmet continues,

"—In the meantime, I suggest training for it."

Jay and his friends look to Helmet, as his clothes start to bask in the sunset.

"You've helped us this far, are there apprenticeship slots that you have open?" Ivy asks.

"No." Helmet says, turning around with his back to them, "As a Guildmaster, I can only train my team, no one else. That's a privilege, you know?"

"—Go to the site next Saturday, at around 2:00 PM EST." Helmet finishes.

Jay and his friends nod, send their appreciation to Helmet's way, and start to log off.

"Hey, Jay, isn't it?" Helmet asks.

Jay looks up from his game menu. Helmet was now facing them with a conviction in his visor. His digital eyebrows on his helmet were in a serious pose.

"Let your friends log off, and let's talk one-on-one."

Jay doesn't know why Helmet seems so severe but decides to follow his instructions. Ivy and Axel were slightly annoyed at Jay's request to log off before him, but they did as he asked. Once they had logged entirely off of The Nexus, Jay stepped closer to Helmet.

"Level with me, alright?" Helmet starts, "Why didn't you use your Aspect during that fight?"

"...Because I don't think I have one," Jay mumbles.