Book 2: Chapter 45: Patch 8.0: The Final Round

Fenrir does not like how he is developing a habit of always being the last one to get in-game for these important events. His sleep schedule has just been so crazy lately with how late he has been staying up in-game and then having his girlfriends over to prevent him from sleeping in real life!

Once again, as soon as he gets above deck, he is attacked by Cassiel and Tabitha for being the last one to get in-game and almost being late. They both love to remind him of how close he comes to missing things. Though, while Cassiel is just being tsun and trying to make sure that he does not start slacking off, Tabitha does it because she doesn’t want him being a sleepyhead to cause her to miss anything. There is no way that she is willing to miss out on the final round of the tournament just because he is tired, and without him, they cannot participate.

Serra and Rock are here to warmly welcome him, though. Then, once Cassiel sees Serra hugging him and Rock licking him and nuzzling against him, she relaxes and wants in on the attention.

“You all ready?” Fenrir asks.

“I think so. Did you think up a plan?” Oleander asks.

“I couldn’t, but I might just be too dependent on you always doing that, Olly. I know you’ve got to have some ideas.”

Oleander shrugs with his shoulders and hands. “I might have thought up some potential plans.”

“See? I can always count on you to worry about the little things.”

“Oi,” Tabitha interjects, “what about this is little?”

“You,” Fenrir answers.

He looks at her and only feels disappointment when she looks unimpressed at his remark rather than playfully offended. Lolis being upset about their size and wanting to be bigger has always been one of his favorite tropes in anime, but Tabitha is too confident in her appearance for something like that. After all, she did choose to look like this.

“Alright, alright. I’m just waking up still,” Fenrir says.

“Ya better hurry and wake up,” Tabitha says.

“Need to take notes from her,” Serra tells Cassiel.

Fenrir hopes that they take poor notes. He isn’t sure if he could handle dating two wannabe copies of Tabitha.

“Everybody get some good work in?” Fenrir asks.

“Yeah, I think me and Bone got some good practice in,” Cassiel answers.

“Our baby is all ready! Got the engine up and runnin’ and upgraded those new bolts of ours. Also made a new hooked bolt for catchin’ the serpent,” Tabitha explains.

Serra gives a thumbs-up. “Yeah, felt the skill improve a couple of times. Played with Rock a bunch, too,” she says.

“I think I can cast a spell or two more than before, but man, Fenny, training that sort of endurance is way more boring than training my endurance with Corwin,” Oleander explains while running a finger up along Corwin’s back, causing Corwin to shiver and straighten up.

It takes Fenrir a couple of moments to remember what the odd feeling within him is. He can still sense Nell’s exact position and how she is feeling within her heart.

She’s still hopeful.

Part of him wants to go and try to rescue her right now so that he can have her presence buffing him up during this final round, but he knows that’s basically impossible right now. One, he doesn’t have the time to go and break her out of her prison. Two, how are they supposed to take on all of Ull’s followers and where would they go?

Saving her has to come after the tournament.

Crowds gather around the piers once more.

Blackstache’s ship is floating on the surface with its stern facing out of the city. Hanging over the water by heavy chains at its stern is what appears to be a box of sorts, but Fenrir can’t tell what exactly it is as it is covered in a thick cloth.

Of course, it is safe to assume that it could only be one thing: the serpent that they will be fishing for the final round.

With owls circling above, the announcer from the previous rounds begins explaining the rules.

“Welcome to the final day of the tournament! Today, we shall all find out who the winner – who the ultimate fisher is!” the announcer declares.

Fenrir isn’t so sure that whoever wins is really the ultimate fisher given how most of the tournament thus far has been about fighting and survival, but oh well.

The cloth around the object hanging from Blackstache’s ship is lifted off to reveal a large, glass container full of water. More importantly, it is full of juvenile serpent.

A single serpent swims around within the container and looks for an escape. Fenrir can’t tell exactly how large it is, but going from how far away it is and how large it already looks, it has to be a couple of times longer than The Shoebill while having a body as thick as a tree trunk!

Its glistening scales reflect the light of the sun shining down on it.

“This is the final catch! Whoever catches this and brings it back to the city will be the winner of the tournament! Anything is allowed past the tower. Melee and ramming are allowed within the city until a ship docks with its catch, at which point, the tournament will be over. Now, let’s see our competitors!”

Alexander and The Steel Tiger show up on that screen hanging from the tower first.

“Alexander, captain of The Steel Tiger, is a newer player who has taken the city by storm! After a controversial twist of events in the second round, Alexander is looking to capture the—”

Fenrir can’t even hear the rest of the announcement over the crowds behind him booing and shouting.

They are even louder once the longship comes onto the screen.

Though, when Fenrir and The Shoebill pop up, they change their tune.

Serra and Cassiel both hide behind Fenrir when they see themselves on the screen, but Serra pokes her head out just enough to look at the screen while reaching a single arm out to hold up a peace sign.

“Last but certainly not least is The Shoebill led by the city’s newest crush, Fenrir! While our other two competitors have been met with controversy, The Shoebill and her crew have quickly become beloved by the city despite consisting of almost all new players! What a great final round! We have one crew of new players that have earned the disdain of the city going against another group of new players that the city has fallen in love with! And let’s not forget about our foreign guests wishing to take victory for themselves!”

Fenrir feels his heart beating faster as the introductions conclude. He’s finally made it to the last round of the tournament, and it is going to be the hardest fight thus far.

The Shoebill cannot be allowed to get teamed up on. Her enemies are great and just one of them would be enough to stall her while the other goes for the tournament’s final objective.

They all feel the city’s eyes on them. Blackstache, Ull, the crowds, the other crews – everybody is watching The Shoebill and waiting to see what her crew is going to do this time.

“Now! Is everybody ready for the final round?” the announcer asks.

The crowd wildly cheers.

Guards are required to stand by the longship and The Steel Tiger to make sure that nobody interferes and to block any items being tossed at them.

“Wait, that’s it,” Fenrir says.

“What?” Oleander asks.

“I bet that prick wasn’t able to get more steel oak to repair his ship with.”

“They could have had some spare, right?”

“Even if they did, they probably just nailed some planks on to patch things up. They’re weak points.” Fenrir looks at Serra. “Remember when they got blown up yesterday?”

“Yeah, by the old hairy guys,” Serra answers. “You said it was just flashy and easy to fix.”

“I did, but that doesn’t mean that those won’t be weak points still. The section that was damaged is going to be way more vulnerable than the rest of their ship, so let’s not let that sacrifice be in vain,” Fenrir explains.

“He’s right,” Oleander says, “it could work. Even if the wood is as strong as steel, I bet it got a bunch of cracks in it that we can’t see from the explosion.”

“We just have to take advantage of that.”

The announcer resumes talking. “Now! For the glory of being known as the best and to earn yourselves an epic tale sung by none other than Blackstache himself, let the final round of the tournament begin!”

The glass container opens up at its bottom to release all the water within it. And the serpent.

It rears its head above the water and roars before looking around and diving underwater to swim out toward the tower!

The three competitors set sail from their docks and start their pursuit of the serpent. No matter how much they may wish to kill each other, first, they cannot allow the serpent to escape out of their sights.

“Full speed ahead!” Fenrir orders.