Nicolai stood in a new arena. As always at the start of a round, he was surrounded by a blue orb of protective light, unable to act.

Distantly, he saw Jex. Glancing around, he found they were in an arena of the typical size for the one-versus-one portion. A shattered fragment of an ancient city, the jagged teeth of broken buildings reaching for the sky. Walls of dark-grey brick leaned at dangerous angles, tottering against one another like drunken old men, and splintered rafters jutted like bones from their charred shells.

He saw a Bell Tower, just like those in the Phantom City, off to one side. Reasonably intact, though the building it was connected to was hollow—blackened and roofless.

The street that stretched from him to Jex showed a chaos of broken cobblestones and scattered debris; chunks of masonry, overturned carts, smashed chairs and tables, all lying abandoned in frozen disorder.

In only seconds Nicolai and the Modules had sucked it all in, absorbed the layout and turned it into lines of fire, cover hard and soft, strongholds and fall-backs, streets that'd be good for ambushing and unstable buildings best avoided.

As before, Jex held her smartgun in both hands. It fired bullets not dissimilar to 7.62, armour-piercing rounds designed to go through cover. The single-layer brick walls of these buildings couldn't be relied upon to stop them, he'd need at least two layers. Nor would they put up much obstacle to his M99.

The countdown began. He regained his freedom to move, to use Symbiotes and pull free weapons, though the blue orb still wrapped him.

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven.

He pulled his M99 from storage and held it ready, fully loaded with a ten-round magazine. He sighted down it. Jex swam into focus between the ironsights, aiming back at him. He formed his Skin Shield over his skin and the shield of his Sheltering Glove to the side of his M99's barrel, then activated both Pegasi rings. His drones rose, clustered within the blue bubble like runners at the starting line, ready to burst free.

The countdown ended and he threw himself into motion, pushing hard with his legs and using the Pegasi rings to drive him sideways, meanwhile his drones veered in all directions. Did all that even as he squeezed the trigger, saw her do the same. She wasn't even looking at him as she dashed toward cover, spraying rounds his way, smartgun held tight to her body.

His Sheltering Glove's shield was extended in a cone that covered the majority of his body but gave space for the M99 to peek out on one side. Behind that he had his Burst Shield, and then his Skin Shield primed to take over should it break.

She had a Burst Shield and a Skin Shield, too. Her gun fired bullets not much different from 7.62 except they were self-aiming. His bullets were a lot bigger. With Aiming merged he didn't need self-targeting bullets, because he wouldn't miss.

That meant that despite what one might think, he outgunned her.

The first shot blew her Burst Shield into smoking Oma. Her bullets rained on the tip of his shield cone, deflected.

His second shot sent great cracks spidering through her Skin Shield, but it didn't quite break. Her shields were pretty much as good as they got, for Tier 1. His cone shield broke, but he had two more behind it.

His third shot—

Never came. The barrel of his anti-materiel rifle poked out from behind the cover of his Burst Shield. One of her bullets, by a fluke of chance, hit that barrel right on the tip.

The shock might've jarred the weapon from his grasp, were it not for his bionic arm and instantaneous reactions. The gun was knocked to the side and he wasn't able to fire that final shot, which would've burst her Skin Shield and most likely punched through to eliminate her.

His sideways motion continued as a few more of her bullets caught at him and popped his Burst Shield. As the protective burst ended, he landed behind cover. A trail of dust filled his wake, torn up by the skidding of his feet. He came to a stop, now in the ragged alleyways on the left side of the street from where he'd started. Her bullets still blasted craters in the walls to his side, but from this angle there were multiple ruined buildings between him and her and they weren't able to turn at a wide enough angle to track him. The gunfire cut off when she realised that.

While he'd been shooting at her, Cyberwarfare and Threat Analysis had been working on drones and the Local. They'd spread them wide to gain coverage, and Cyberwarfare had already seized full control.

She just had a basic Cyberwarfare implant, a far cry from a sentient AI and something which required some attention from her to work its best. She hadn't been able to provide that in the opening moments of the fight, focused on running and gunning. Now the Local war was over and he held full dominance. If she tried to send her drones out she'd just lose them.

Guided by Threat Analysis, those drones dispersed to gain angles and watch her. They found her sheltering behind a building, just as she was.

The tip of the M99's barrel was dented. The weapon was unusable. If he'd had a vibro-knife he could have cut the tip off, but he didn't. The Blade might do the job but he had no intention of exposing its existence for such a minor purpose. He opened his Storage and pushed the gun inside, pulled out his assault rifle and attached its strap. Based on his understanding of the rules, the M99 would be restored at the end of the round.

If he'd had the Dark in full flow, he might've felt the trajectories of her bullets. Might've known one would hit the barrel. Might've been able to change that. But he hadn't. It took time to come alive, took combat and bloodshed and the pressing closeness of death, which he'd yet to feel in this fight. He felt sure that the more he made use of it, let it out, the easier it would become for him to activate it.

Some of his drones went down, smoking. Most would struggle to hit a drone, but acting as a light anti-air was one of the main purposes of a smartgun. A few of those drones hadn't even been in direct line-of-sight to her. She'd just aimed high over the ruined walls around her and once the bullets were up, they'd adjusted course to target any drones within a reasonable angle. She was being surprisingly free with her ammo. Threat Analysis adjusted, pulling drones into more conservative positioning.

Nicolai got moving. Best to never stay still in a battle like this, and he wanted to close the distance. Jex, meanwhile, was now standing still, eyes closed. Strange behaviour. She was only a few buildings away, perhaps forty metres. He'd have expected her to quickly work to get further away from him.

Something blasted through the Aura. It was to a ripple the same as a tsunami was to a wave. Overwhelming and vicious, somehow sharp. It smashed into him and his Soul Sense was stripped away. His teeth grit with the sudden shock of pain like he'd been flayed because his Soul had been flayed.

In the silence that followed he took stock. His Soul was injured, but that wasn't the worst.

All his Symbiotes were limp and numb, floating aimlessly. His Skin Shields vanished. The Spectral Claw dissipated. The Big Mouth closed and faded away. His eyes widened with realisation.

A Soul explosion Art. Wu had once mentioned such an Art could be a very effective weapon in the hands of someone from Earth. That was why Jex had stayed close—it had a short effective range.

Now she was dashing away. He saw her in a momentary flash before she took aim at the drone tracking her and it was forced to duck away.

He couldn't help a chuckle. How unexpected. This fight was going badly for him. He'd lost the M99 and now his Symbiotes and Soul, too. On the upside, the Art would have damaged her Soul even worse and she would suffer all the same effects. She was no longer able to use Symbiotes and was unshielded, just like him.

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He moved, streaking down the alley and out into a street, veered and moved down it. Paralleling her course. Cyberwarfare informed him she was trying to send a message over Local. He told the Module to allow it.

'Let's see how you do without your magic.' Jex's voice crackled into his ears, dripping with smug satisfaction. 'I meant to use that against the Nara girl, but since I'm going against you first, you can taste it. You do better at combining magic and our tech than anyone else I've seen, I'll admit that. But now it's just gun against gun. I think we both know how this will go. How about you just give up now, before that crowd up there sees me wipe the floor with you?'

'I'll take my chances.'

'You'll be doing so without drones, then. I don't know how you're so good on the Local, but sadly for you I've got a counter for that, too.'

One of his drones saw her disappear into the tower, the big one that was pretty much the only thing still solidly standing. A minute later a wave of Local interference burst out, tore through his connection to his drones. She'd planted a jammer in there.

No Local. No Spiritual. No M99.

She'd taken out a lot of his options. All that was left was… guns. And bombs. And getting up close.

Exactly the kind of fighting he had most of his experience in, as it happened. That long experience told him that though earlier, while he'd had all those advantages, chasing had been the right move, now it wasn't.

He heard distant gunfire and ducked behind a tumbledown wall. She would be aiming randomly down streets and into the air, hoping the smartgun would do the work for her. An effective strategy, now he had no Shield, and one best used from far away.

So what if she could outrange him? His best move was taking it slow and calm, no need to rush. It wouldn't take long for his Soul to recover and then everything she'd done would be for nought.

But the Dark didn't like that idea and neither did he, and the Modules saw no reason to wait.

He was entirely capable of ending this within ten minutes, maximum. All he had to do was think how she thought.

People tended to believe gunfights were all about sitting behind a wall, shooting at the other guy, and hoping you got them before they got you. Most humans were so terrified by the knowledge that bullets were coming their way that they were incapable of doing anything else, locking into immobility by fear.

But to Nicolai and the Modules, it was little different from any other form of combat.

What was she going to want to do? Keep her distance, stay safe, said Threat Analysis.

What did she think he would want to do? Regain your advantages by destroying that jammer, said Cyberwarfare.

Where was she going to go? Somewhere with good lines-of-sight and cover, and a view of the tower where she put the jammer, said Simulations.

Was she willing to remain patient and passive, or could she be pushed into doing something rash? Patient for a time, then rash, rash, rash, sang Psychology.

If you were capable of understanding and manipulating those factors, fights like this became very, very simple.

###

Jex held tight around her smartgun, aimed at the open stretch that led up to the tower's blasted-open doorway.

She had it all worked out.

With his weirdly over-tuned cyberwarfare capabilities, he'd be wanting to get the Local back. That was why she'd gone and plugged the jammer in there, nice and safe protected by four thick walls.

Since she'd broken his anti-mat, just like she'd hoped to—making use of that very new, experimental "gun-targeting focus" setting for smartguns she'd downloaded only days before Heaven arrived—he had no way to shoot through those walls.

He'd also tipped his hand when he showed her he had a storage, in that weird mouth. Neither she nor Pal had one of those but she knew the basics of how they worked, and thus knew that with his Symbiotes stunned, he wouldn't be able to open it.

All he had was what he'd appeared with. An assault rifle which had been hanging on a strap over his chest, a pistol in a holster, knives and grenades and drones—though the drones could only be used via fibre-wire—and whatever the thing on his back was.

That meant if he wanted to get to her jammer, he'd have to go in there himself.

The other risk was that he'd be creeping around, looking to sneak up on her. But that was why half-a-dozen wires sprang from her opened-up wrist and peeled off in all directions. Connecting her to the drones she'd posted all around her, all of them thermal-capable and primed to spot a shimmer poncho.

She was untouchable. Unless he took down that jammer, and he likely knew that. So he'd go for it, and that was when she'd get him.

Movement. Something spun through the air, just a tiny dot. It disappeared through the tower's doorway. She held tight to her smartgun, tracing where the thing had come from, but a wall swam into view.

He was in one of the many alleyways, protected by plenty of walls, no good angle for the smartgun to get him.

She didn't fire. That'd just give her location away. He thought she was dumb, inexperienced, and she couldn't wait to prove him wrong.

A distant boom echoed. She saw dust burst out of the tower's doorway. He'd tossed a grenade in there.

Ah. She smirked. So that was it. Hoping to get the jammer. What he didn't know was she'd put it halfway up the spiral staircase. He didn't have a chance of hitting it with grenades tossed through the entrance.

Something sailed through the air. Another grenade. Her eye followed it, and she saw it land somewhere on the tower's roof. Another dull boom, more dust.

Then another, this one through the doorway, and another up the top.

He had quite a few grenades, she knew that. But enough that blind chance would eventually see one of them get the jammer? Unlikely. She'd taken note of where exactly they emerged from, too. She could see the specific alleyway.

The explosions were coming nice and reliable, now. Every minute another one. As she sat and watched she saw another grenade come flying out. Taking his time as he aimed them. Jex snorted. And he acted like she was the dumbass.

She rose, and got moving. He'd made a mistake, sitting there tossing nades. Exactly the kind she'd avoided. He'd given away his location, and now he was a sitting duck.

She swung into an alleyway, smartgun tight to her shoulder and aiming where she looked, finger squeezing gently at the trigger. Her fibre-linked drones moved with her, keeping within a few dozen metres. She sent them out to watch the rooftops, peek around corners, watch her back.

Jex moved slow and careful, ever wary. But she shook her head, a wry smirk on her face, when those explosions kept on coming. Getting closer now, as she worked her way around to the alleyway he was in.

Almost right on top of him, now, only two turns away. She shuffled up tight behind her lead drone and readied herself. Palmed a pair of nades of her own, prepped their timers. She heard another explosion. He was still in there, still tossing them. Then she had the drone peek around the corner.

It showed another winding alleyway, and just a few metres away an opening. The one he was in, tossing his nades. And there, posted outside it, a fibre-linked drone.

She leaned and threw her grenades, already running as she saw them clatter around the corner into his alleyway. They went off just as she arrived at that corner. His drone was blown past her, smashed into the wall and junked.

She didn't even look around the bend, just held out her smartgun so the tip was around the corner and squeezed the trigger tight. It shook in her grip as rounds were sprayed out, burning through the air, each one programmed to seek out anything even vaguely resembling him or a shimmer poncho.

But through the smartgun's own visual feed, connecting to her gun-link wrist-wire, she saw the alleyway.

None of those homing rounds were hitting anything because there was no one there. His drone's fibre-wire trailed on the ground, ending where it'd been cut. Distantly, she saw the tower, and another grenade going off—but it wasn't in the tower, just some random place outside.

She planted her back to the wall, a snarl of disbelief ripping over her face as she turned and stared in all directions. The grenades had been a trick, he'd just thrown a bunch and set each with a longer time. She'd blundered right into it.

But it wasn't over yet.

She sprayed rounds in all directions, left and right, up and around. The smartgun clicked empty and her hands blurred as she stripped the mag, trying to look in every direction at once, sure she'd see him leaning around a corner while she was vulnerable. By the time the first mag hit the ground she'd already slammed a fresh one in. Allowed herself a smile because he'd missed his chance. She edged along the wall. Needed to get somewhere else.

Something erupted behind her. She heard brickwork smashing, tearing, something knocked into her and sent her staggering. Felt a sharp nip at the back of her neck, but she was already spinning away—

A blue glow surrounded her.

Round over.

Victor: NICOLAI

###

The blue bubble that wrapped him and pulled him up didn't even notice the bricks it smashed through. Just as his bionic arm had barely noticed when he punched it through the wall, hand-talon extending in a jab at the back of Jex's neck.

She came into view, wrapped in her own bubble of blue and staring at him with an appalled, viciously angry expression.

'You sneaky piece of shit!' she screeched. 'Fuck you, fuck you!'

She ranted on as they both rose into the air towards the top of the arena. Nicolai let out a surprised chuckle. Her total lack of sportsmanship and the confused, childish rage over what had happened struck him as hilarious. He burst out laughing, spreading his arms helplessly as he saw how this only stoked her rage even stronger, her finger pointing and thrashing, mouth working madly. Surprisingly enjoyable. He'd had such reactions beaten out of him by a lifetime of careful plans falling apart, and tended to expect the same from others.

She vanished and a moment later so did he.

Back in the waiting room, he settled down. The next round was against Xuejing. He could hardly wait.

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