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Open on Grand Festival Hub
Hyperion walks on screen towards Chrysanthos and Aris
Chrysanthos: How has working on that new technique gone?
Hyperion: It’s not easy to show off, but it’s ready.
Aris: Should I take my leave then? After all, we’re on opposite ends of the semifinals now. There’s a chance we’ll face each other soon.
Hyperion: You’l see it when I face Hákon either way. No point trying to hide it.
Hyperion holds up a gemstone, shining with a bright light.
Hyperion: I make this bright enough that the opponent can’t see me coming. It’s blunter than I’d like, but the only damage comes from what I do after.
Chrysanthos: It’s clever if you ask me.
Aris: Makes me wonder what else you could add on with more time.
Hyperion: Nothing that attacks the opponent directly, still don’t want to do that. This is more about getting used to my power than finding a way to win. But we’ll see if it helps against Hákon.
Chrysanthos: He’s a good person to test it out against. You don’t need to worry about safety against another dragon, and if you do hurt him, well… he’s Hákon.
Hyperion: That’s true.
Exploration Start
Now it’s time to run some tests with your new super move, Blinding Flash. Hyperion holds out a gemstone and it emits a flash of light, if the opponent is touched by the flash they’ll be stunned. Then Hyperion will automatically follow up with a heavy hitting grapple attack. The flash can be blocked, but the range will catch people by surprise.
While you play around with it there’s more people to eavesdrop on.
Hopeful Mondragean Noble: Two people from Mondragnes in the semi finals is pretty good. Imagine if they both make it into grand finals.
Eager Mondragaen Mercenary: Everyone is looking forward to the dragon fights, but personally I think Aris against Walakea is going to be just as exciting.
Expectant Arena Fan: Is Hyperion finally going to use his powers now?
Casual Arena Fan: I kind of like that he’s been holding back on using them.
Exploration End
Hákon: Hey Hyperion.
Hyperion: Did I keep you waiting?
Hákon: Nope. Was checking something with some of my thralls and was about to look for you.
Hákon: I’m looking forward to our fight. You know even as a councilor I sometimes feel set apart from all the others here. It’s been nice to have all of you around and not be the only nearby dragon for a change.
Hyperion: It has been a while since we were all together.
Hyperion: (I thought he was too integrated with mortals, but I guess even he has some trouble with that. Still, he is the reason why even if I tried to, I couldn’t remove slavery from these isles. But he’s also one of the few other dragons.)
Hyperion: Let’s get to the arena. I’ll show you that new move I’ve mentioned.
Transition to the Arena
Here the audience is no longer hidden by illusions, you can see the stands in the background. Some audience members are holding up signs related to the fighters, other signs are less relevant like ‘someone marry me please.’
The stage has a flat dirt floor, with walls of ice to set the boundary. This simplistic look is merely how the stage starts out.
Battle Start
This battle is going to get up close and personal. Hákon has slow moving attacks that hit hard just like you. A lot of this will come down to who commits to one of their stronger attacks first and if they get punished for it. Some of Hákon’s attacks have armor, so it’s safer to block his attacks and then punish as opposed to trying to interrupt them.
To encourage use of your brand new super move, you start off the fight with enough meter to use it. Go for Blinding Flash right at round start to seize an early lead. But with Hákon’s own high damage output you can easily lose that lead to just one or two mistakes.
New platforms will appear and disappear as the fight goes on, but it won’t complicate things too much because of how close both of you want to be. You should also keep an eye out for Hákon’s Gale Rush super, which works as a grab where he crashes right into you. Don’t let it catch you by surprise.
Win or lose the fight shouldn’t last long.
Battle End
Hyperion and Hákon are back at their starting positions.
Hákon: That was incredible. Haven’t had this much fun in a while.
Hyperion: I feel the same. Nice not to worry about someone getting hurt.
Hákon: You’re free to come by anytime you want a rematch you know. I’ll be cheering for you in the finals.
Hákon walks away.
Hyperion: I don’t think I’ll be visiting anytime soon, but it really was fun.
Hyperion: Now to see if I can beat Aris. That will be the real test.
Chapter END
Note from the Author: The final chapter is up next. Hákon’s relationship with the other dragons is difficult to convey and write, but that’s why he makes for such a good penultimate opponent here, very much a contrast to Hyperion even with Hyperion tapping into more draconic power.
| Prologue/Introduction | Table of Contents | Profiles | Non-Gamer Primer |