You Come
1.
Whoosh—!
The moment we stepped onto the approach toward Crystal Tower 3, bullets and shells poured down without discrimination.
"Raise the barrier."
With Leonhardt's barrier out in front, we pushed the front line forward a little at a time. There was no rush. We simply nipped away at the space around the crystal tower, bite by careful bite.
As long as the barrier didn't break, it would refill if you just waited a moment. The enemy's bullets and skills were endless too—but they had nowhere left to fall back to.
That difference split the way both sides played.
They curled up like turtles and held on. We hid behind the barrier and kept inching the line forward.
A barrier fight comes down to who can claim more space…
If the enemy gave ground easily, we could just keep shoving straight up. No matter how heavy their firepower was, you couldn't shatter Leonhardt's barrier in a single blow.
Normally they'd give ground slowly and stall for time. Didn't expect them to peel off this hard…
For Chamchican's team—the so-called Weak Team Detector—to make a rookie mistake like this. Giving up Crystal Tower 2 must have hit them harder than I thought.
In a situation like this, the cards they could play were obvious. Probably one of three…
"Shouldn't we start watching for enemy ults?"
Heukrangi's worried voice cut through my train of thought.
"Heukrangi. What's your ult gauge at right now?"
"Forty-three percent."
"You scraped their front and back line together with Flame Sword Aura and you're still not even halfway. You think their ults are already charged?"
"Ah. Right."
"The first fight ended way too fast. So it's not time to worry about ults yet."
This was something you could figure out with pure reasoning—no hack required.
"Forget about ults. When the timing actually makes sense for them to use one, I'll calculate it and tell you. You just watch your sword aura and the barrier. If they dash, meet it with a counter-dash. Got it?"
"Got it."
The lower the tier, the more you had to cut down how much people needed to think about. Heukrangi was probably already maxed out just holding that barrier up.
Once she gets used to it, it'll be fine…
The problem was the tournament sitting right on our doorstep.
Ordinarily we'd have been cycling through combinations, honing a weapon that was ours alone—but we were already too late. Still, loading as much onto her as possible was the right call.
"Their Hagane Shinya hasn't shown since earlier, has he?"
I hit Tab once and checked the enemy hero list. The portraits hadn't changed, so at the very least they hadn't swapped characters.
"He could pop out from either flank. Stay sharp."
"Should I pressure him?"
I shook my head at Aura's question right away.
"Trying to track Shinya as Phantom is way too hard. It's also a waste of resources. Just stick near the team and fill your ult gauge."
"Understood."
I kept watch on the surroundings, sniper rifle in hand.
Tatatatat—
Between the gunfire and explosions ringing from every direction, a sound that didn't belong made me furrow my brow.
Whoom—
I swung the barrel right. In that instant, a pair of blue eyes vaulting up along the wall locked with mine.
Bang—!
No hesitation.
Clatter—
A blue throwing blade streaked straight for my head.
Bang—
I pulled the trigger as I moved my legs. A wind-charged shuriken punched into the spot where I'd been sitting a second ago.
Bang—!
0.5 seconds until Hagane Shinya's Counterwind Reflect activates.
Two rounds punched in succession and his health dropped below half—and wind began to swirl over the enemy's katana.
Whooooosh—
I took my finger off the trigger for a beat.
Counterwind Reflect was a skill that sent an enemy's attacks right back at them. So you just didn't shoot. That alone turned the other guy into an idiot.
Whooosh—!
When Counterwind Reflect failed to connect, the enemy kicked up a gale and charged.
"Hm?"
His survival skill, Counterwind Reflect, and his dash, Wind Slash—both spent. All he had left were wind shuriken and the katana.
As a samurai, he must have decided a head-on duel with a sniper still gave him odds.
He's looking down on me way too hard.
Bang—!
I fed him a casual sniper round.
The second Shinya stepped on the wind and vaulted into the air twice, I drew my paralysis pistol.
Pssht—!
The paralysis round hit him dead-on, and Shinya dropped. While the guy lay there twitching pathetically, I lobbed a grenade over his head.
"Be a good boy."
BOOM—!
A green blast swallowed him whole, melting his body away without a trace.
Grace (Bullet) eliminated Hagane Shinya (SpicyTuna)
"Oh, what?"
"When did you get that kill!?"
The moment the kill log popped, I could feel the whole team's mood spike.
"Do we push? Full send? Want me to dash!?"
Heukrangi shouted, voice wound tight with excitement.
"Not a dash. Just shove forward fast. We cut one of them—so grab as much territory as we can."
"Okay."
We expanded the front line we'd been nibbling at into a single hard push. The enemy tried to pressure us, but in a five-player game, one empty slot was a bigger gap than people expected.
That unstoppable shove only stalled again when the other side suddenly pulled out Odin.
Dudududududu—!
The merciless autocannon spewing from armored-vehicle mode melted the barrier on the spot.
"Barrier's going down!"
"Hide right!"
At Heukrangi's urgent call, we ducked behind the little wall on the right.
Dududududu—!
Hundreds of rounds skimming the edge of the wall made my blood run cold. I'd never noticed when I was the one shooting—but being on the receiving end was pure carnage.
"So what do we do about this?"
"Doesn't look like there's an answer? Should we swap comps even now?"
"We have to at least try, if only for the ult gauges we've built. If we catch the window right, we've got a shot."
"How?"
"If they want to play dirty, we stir the pot right back. First things first—fill those ult gauges."
"Copy."
We poked out from behind the wall in short bursts. Fired only while the barrier held, and yanked ourselves back the second it looked ready to break.
"Don't get impatient. They're the ones in a hurry."
As long as we'd taken Crystal Tower 2 first, they had no choice but to come to us. If the clock ran all the way out like this, we'd take it on points.
The so-called You-Come strategy.
"But what if their off-DPS loops around to Crystal Tower 2 while we're sitting here?"
"Good question."
Heukrangi had raised a surprisingly solid concern. It was something that actually happened fairly often.
"Odds of that are low for now. Both of their DPS are main DPS, so their mobility's sluggish. And for a healer to go, the risk-to-return is garbage."
"Ah, true."
"If they still had Hagane Shinya, we'd have to watch for it—but once they've swapped the pick like that, no real need to sweat it. And even if someone does go, it doesn't matter."
"Why?"
"If they're standing on Crystal Tower 2, that means one body is missing from their main force."
I smiled as I continued.
"Then we just eat their main force."
"Ohh… so you actually think these things through?"
Heukrangi sounded genuinely impressed.
"Obviously. I don't live life on autopilot like some people."
"You bitch."
A low ripple of laughter spread through voice chat.
"Quit laughing and get ready."
I hit Tab and checked our team's ult gauges.
All of them above ninety percent.
They'd be coming in now. The flower of a barrier fight was, in the end, the psychological war over ultimates.
"Let's go."
Whoever won here took the scrim.
2.
"We advance now."
"Copy."
The answer came back through the headset. Streamer Chamchican swallowed hard, then pushed forward slowly with the barrier out in front.
Dudududududu—!
The second Odin shifted into armored-vehicle mode, the autocannon lit up. Rounds hammered the barrier, and the enemies immediately ducked behind cover.
"Move, now!"
Chamchican kept his orders calm.
"Odin keeps firing and buries our footsteps. That's how we make them eat it."
"Got it."
Chamchican stepped out with the barrier, and the other three stuck tight behind him.
Time left: a little over five minutes.
At this rate it was a loss on points. Even if they couldn't push all the way to Crystal Tower 1, they at least had to retake Tower 2. That was the only way into overtime.
"Odin ult?"
"Not yet. It'll fill if we wait about a minute, I think. Want to hold?"
"No time. While we wait, if they take first turn, it's over. We have to hit first, no matter what."
"Do your best with four. Vehicle mode's ending soon?"
"Confirmed."
Thanks to Odin's covering fire, they closed the distance to the enemy cover in a single rush.
They won't know we've closed in.
NOVA Syndicate was a first-person game. If you just hid behind a wall and turtled like that, your field of view was bound to get boxed in.
"The second they poke their heads out, we drop Hellfire Slam."
"Copy."
"Okay."
"They're dead."
Leonhardt's ultimate: Hellfire Slam.
A skill that drove the greatsword into the ground, floored every enemy in range, and detonated flames on the spot.
Land it clean and you could flip a bad fight in a single stroke—but if the other side also had a Leonhardt, the conditions for using it got much tighter.
The second it gets blocked, it's over.
Hellfire Slam was a ground-traveling skill, so under normal circumstances it was hard to stop.
The problem was Leonhardt's barrier.
From the floor all the way over the head—it sealed the entire front plane solid. If that barrier went up in time, Hellfire Slam died for nothing.
That was why Leonhardt mirror matches always turned into a mind game over dashes and Hellfire Slam.
When to drop the barrier, when to raise it.
When to fire the ult, and how to stop theirs.
Whoever won that reading took the fight.
This one's a guaranteed win.
But this time, they didn't even need that exhausting mind game. The enemy still hadn't noticed how close they'd gotten.
At our level? No way they know. Sound play? In a situation like this? Absolutely impossible.
Chamchican rested a finger on the ultimate key.
Poke out. Poke out…!
He bit down on his lip and stared past the wall.
One.
Two.
The instant the enemy Leonhardt and the rest of their team edged into view around the wall—
"Three!"
"Blazing Judgment——!!!"
Whoooosh—!
The massive greatsword wrapped itself in flame. The blade climbed high into the sky—then drove straight down into the earth.
KRA-KOOM—!!!
The screen shuddered. Fire burst outward along the cracked ground like an explosion.
Dead ahead.
The enemy Leonhardt.
The supports and DPS clustered behind him. Every single one of them sat inside Hellfire Slam's range.
It's over!
Any second now the enemies would all go down. They'd roll on the floor wreathed in fire, and the team would pour damage on top of them. Kill them all, and reverse the map right there!
That was what he believed.
But what filled the screen wasn't a pile of bodies sprawled on the ground.
A blue barrier.
The enemy Leonhardt's barrier.
"Huh?"
Grin—
Beyond the barrier, the enemy Leonhardt's mouth curled up at the corner. A beat later the barrier dropped. And then—
"Blazing Judgment——!!!"
The flaming greatsword fell.
KRA-KOOM——!!!