Reverse Chronicles

Mightiest Offense vs. Absolute Defense

The Knight General is known in the empire as the best in offense, both in strategies and fighting. In order to achieve the rank of Knight General, a Squire or a soldier must have an attack strength equal to a thousand men and be undefeated in a battle of wits. The current Knight General, Alison S. Taylor, is rumored to be the strongest Knight Commander in the land. Her tactics and strategies in battle are also effective in crushing the enemy as soon as the battle would start. She is known as the greatest sword of the empire.

Meanwhile, the Defender General has the best defense in the empire, both defending against attacks and assaults. In order to achieve the rank of Defender General, a Squire or a soldier must have a defensive strength greater than that of an iron wall. Emmanuel H. Juneau, the current Defender General, has successfully thwarted attacks multiple attacks on the empire from multiple sides. He is rumored to be a genius in planning defensive tactics, never losing an area to an enemy. He is known as the empire’s absolute shield.

These two great generals are a great asset to the empire. However, their Squires, Johannes and Luke now face off in the Grand Magic Games, where there can only be one winner. Will the absolute defense prevail, or will it be overcome by the mightiest offense?

“The match between Johannes and Luke F. Atharia will now begin!” the headmaster’s voice resonates throughout the entire coliseum hyping all the spectators. Even my arrector pili muscles contracted when I heard his voice.

The match has already started but the two just stood still inside the arena. Not one dared to make the first move. They stand facing their opponent with their weapons in hand.

“They are in a deadlock,” Syrena soliloquizes. “In their head, they are thinking of countless approaches to attacks and their combinations, but because they know that the other is also formidable, their line of thinking shatters and that strategy is forfeited.”

I see. Inside their minds, they are thinking of the most effective strategy.

“For Johannes,” Syrena continues, “the greatest problem is Luke’s special skill, Indomitable Defense. It’s a skill nullifies all damage. However, it only lasts for a minute and could only be used a few times.”

“For Luke,” she adds, “Johannes’ special skill, Might, is the biggest problem. It is a passive skill that makes all its users attacks critical. Unlike Indomitable Defense, it is always active.”

“Wait, if Johannes has such a powerful skill, doesn’t that mean that he is the clear winner?”

“Not quite, Luke has Indomitable Defense, but his Dexterity is quite high that even Might may only deal little damage.”

Murmurs begin to circulate around the arena as the two remained still. Not on budged, even the emperor himself has summoned dancers to entertain him.

“Imagine things this way,” Syrena begins another round of explanation. “Johannes is a spear that can pierce through any shield, while Luke is a shield that cannot be pierced by any weapon.”

“That’s a contradiction,” I reply seeing the opposing ideas in her statement.

“It is, so are the existence of the Knight General and the Defender General,” Syrena answers. “They are a contradiction until we prove that the other one is wrong, by making them battle one another. Of course, fighting between themselves is punishable under law, but a friendly match between their Squires makes it more interesting.”

“So, this match can be considered as the answer to that contradiction,” I infer.

As I listened to Syrena’s points, Luke does the first move shooting five arrows at five different points equidistant from him. They suddenly multiply extending towards one another creating a pentagon with Luke at the center.

“He is doing that,” Syrena murmurs as Luke begins shoots more arrows.

He equips his strings using puppetry controlling four human-sized metallic dolls. They stand at the corners of the pentagon that faces Johannes, who is also planning his next move.

In response to Luke’s actions, Johannes charges in with his sword ready in hand. He jumps and uses Gravity s***h at one of the dolls cutting it in half as his sword cuts clearly through the metal. The broken doll mixes in with the arrows forming a clump. Luke grabs another metallic doll replacing the one that Johannes destroyed.

Johannes continues destroying the dolls one after another. Complementarily, Luke replaces each doll that Johannes is destroying.

What is Johannes doing? Can he not step inside the pentagon and attack Luke?

“Luke is forming a literal iron wall using the remnants of the dolls with Puppet’s Curse,” Syrena explains. “The pentagon with the arrows is a trap that will activate if Johannes steps in, but if an iron wall forms, the trap will weaken. What is Luke doing?”

So, Johannes is continuously destroying the dolls so that the trap inside the pentagon would weaken? Will he attack once the iron wall is complete?

Eventually, an iron wall as tall as Rose’s artificial rock hill forms.

“This is what I was waiting for,” Johannes shouts as three copies himself begin circling around the wall and climbing over it. The two copies who went around triggers the trap as the arrows stuck on the ground fly over to attack them. They get impaled by numerous arrows as the third one jumps over the iron wall using Gravity s***h at Luke. The rest of the traps activate flying towards Johannes impaling him.

What! What happened? Is the match over?

“He got him,” Syrena exclaims.

“Luke won?”

“No.”

Suddenly, another Johannes comes in from behind attacking Luke’s empty rear. Luke takes damage from Johannes’s attacks flinging him against his iron wall which is pushed back at the other side of the arena where Johannes was originally.

The pentagon that Luke created vanishes and the iron wall from the parts of the metallic dolls disintegrates. Luke recovers from the crash deciding to directly charge at Johannes. As he was meters away from his target, Johannes suddenly disappears. In a blink of an eye, ten, no thirty Johannes surround Luke. They all point their swords toward him. The Johanneses begin a coordinated attack making Luke defend with everything he has.

Luke breaks the ground creating a fissure around him. The horde of Johanneses are still able to jump over the fissure, but he struck them down one by one. His defense is short-lived, however, as five of the clones simultaneously attack him. He is able to fend two of his attackers, two stab his right leg, and one lodges a dagger on his left forearm. Thankfully, he is able to use Indomitable Defense before the attacks landed. He defeats the five attackers enlarging the fissure.

There are 17 Johanneses left, but suddenly, large spikes start impaling them one by one. It was Luke he manipulates the ground using puppetry cutting down the enemy numbers to three. Two attack him, but he was able to cut them down. He jumps out of the elevated ground in the middle of the fissure facing Johannes.

They are right back where they started. How long will this battle carry on?

“This is bad for Johannes,” Syrena begin to murmur. “He excels in attacks that can defeat his enemies with just one strike.”

Luke attacks with everything he has. He shoots a volley of arrows at Johannes. While Johannes evades the arrows, he grabs swords, daggers, spears, and lances from a cornucopia that he dug from the ground. He arranges them on the ground with their blades pointing toward Johannes. He attaches puppetry strings to them allowing him to manipulate the blades.

“Here it goes!” Syrena exclaims.

Luke spins around creating a tornado of blades that cut and s***h everything on its path. He slowly moves toward Johannes who smiled pointing his sword up high. Johannes surprisingly throws his sword upward over the raging tornado of blades. He rushes towards the deadly tornado grabbing a blue spear. The spear dances around his body moving from his hands, then around his neck, then around his back. He grabs the spear stopping before reaching the tornado and slashes at it creating a hole inside the twister.

“You have a lot of blades, I only have one,” Johannes shouts as Luke’s attack is halted. “It is as what my general said, a man who practices with many blades is not to be feared, but a man who practices with one blade many times is to be feared.”

The blade that Johannes threw over the tornado severs all of the strings that Luke attached rendering him completely defenseless.

“This is!” Syrena shouts in surprise. “Johannes has thwarted that assault.”

“Know that the Knight General’s offensive power is supreme!” Johannes plants his spear on the ground as he walks toward the headmaster.

“This is impossible! I’ve considered every factor and possibility. I predicted that Luke will win,” Syrena is at her wit’s end. “How can this be?”

“The winner is Luke F. Atharia!” the headmaster abruptly announces.

“What!”

“What!”

“How can that be?”

Shouts and murmurs of surprise fill the entire stadium that was once filled with tension as the battle happened. Now it is scrutinizing with the results of the match.

“Johannes yields giving the match to Luke F. Atharia,” the headmaster continues.

Johannes waves at the people as he retrieves his spear and leaving the arena. Luke just sat on the middle of the arena appearing to also be shocked with the results.