Page 49 of The Only Way Out Is Up

When it’s lined up, Mordax lunges. It’s fast but easy to spot coming, and I don’t even need to give Star a warning. He leaps to one side again, letting Mordax’s momentum carry it nearly to the pit wall.

The crowd’s roar is starting to turn to jeers. I look over my shoulder to find Venci coming up behind me on the platform, the tails of her coat sparkling. She’s wearing a construct on her throat, like Lorrimer, and she touches it with one finger as she approaches. Its sigil-light dims.

“I told you to put on a show,” she shouts in my ear, without the booming amplification. “Not waste everyone’s time. No tip if you can’t even put a scratch on the champ.”

I give her a tight smile and turn back to the fight. Mordax has gotten turned around again, and Star shuffles back and forth, gauging the distance.

Okay. Try to go for it from behind after you dodge.

[Finally.]

The big centauroid comes on again. The same motion, the same widespread arms. It’s simple, predictable, just like the little runics in the street matches. A Twisted this size would be a hundred times more dangerous.

Star gives a showier dodge this time, flipping end over end on his reversible limbs. He scuttles back, then surges forward, coming in fast toward Mordax’s rump.

Beside me, Venci is smiling.

Watch—

The big runic lifts its back half into the air, balancing on its front legs, and kicks. Star, already committed to the attack, can’t evade; he takes one broad foot on the rim of his body, tossing him back like a flung discus to carom off the pit wall and roll over and over in the dust. Sparks from popped sigils train behind him. The crowd roars approval, and I can just see Lorrimer’s grin through her curtain of hair.

Shit. Star is still for a moment, then his legs twitch. You okay?

[Assessment: minor damage. One leg moving slow, lowered armor integrity. Addendum: ow.]

“The champion shows his stuff!” Venci is still standing behind me, but her voice now booms from all over. “But it looks like the challenger is still coming!”

[Suggestion: perhaps a frontal approach would be preferable.]

I don’t… think so. I’ve been watching the way Mordax moves. Hind legs first, and a bit… Hang on.

[Observation: time is short.] Mordax is turning for another charge.

I’m trying to think. Something is tugging at me, some bit of intuition.

Fighting runics isn’t like fighting Twisted. Not just because the runics are slower and simpler. Runics have a core, a foundation sigil, and that’s a single point of failure—break that, and they’ll shut down entirely. It’s as true of Star as any of them; while his ruby THINK may be indestructible, the wire that connects it with the rest of him isn’t. Tear it free and his body is just so much metal and clay.

For that reason I’d put his core at the very center of his body, behind as much armor as possible. Simple enough. But in a design like Mordax, where would the core go? In the trunk with the arms? That would minimize lag to the fighting limbs, but…

Then I smile and silently compliment Lorrimer on her design. It’s a good trick. But it’s not going to work this time.

If you came at it sideways, do you think you could avoid that kick?

[Speculation: probably. I would have to stay low.]

Try that. See if you can get a hit along its belly.

Mordax charges. Star evades. This time as soon as he’s clear of the fighting arms he changes direction and closes with his opponent. Lorrimer shouts something and Mordax rears up again, twisting and kicking out. Instead of jumping, Star flattens himself, slipping under the flailing feet. He jabs two long blades into Mordax’s belly with a scream of twisting metal and a spray of sparks. Then he’s out again, skidding to a halt on the other side of the pit.

“A hit!” Venci shouts. “Score one for the challenger! How will the champ respond?”

Mordax is still moving, but I can see some effects from the damage. One of its four fighting arms is drooping, which confirms my suspicions.

The core is in the back half, I send to Star. That’s why it comes in dumb. An opponent who met that charge head-on—as I’d seen many runics do in the street fights—would find itself tearing frantically at a trunk that’s mostly armor and spars. All the important pieces, the core and the movement sigils, are in the “horse” part of the centaur. It makes for slower reaction times, but provides the ability to absorb an enormous amount of damage in a straight-on contest of strength. That must be the dominant style of fighting, and this is a clever adaptation; pity for Lorrimer, then, to draw an opponent who has no idea what he’s doing.

I explain all this to Star, and I can sense his indignation.

[Irritation: it’s like fighting a hand puppet. Very undignified.]