New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

He was smiling at her like a proud friend. Her heart almost fluttered for a second, before she steadied her emotions.

\'He\'s kinda cute with that smile.\' She thought, before clearing her throat.

"Ahem. So... You seem to be in a better mental spot now. Did you enjoy the show?" She asked him, careful to avoid staring into his eyes.

"Yes. That was some fine control of fire you displayed there. Did that extra mana come in handy?" Astaroth said, teasing her.

He was teasing about the fact that he had shown her the method for mana breathing that had helped her in that fight. But she perceived the teasing as something else.

She slightly blushed, albeit imperceptibly.

"It came in handy." She mumbled, turning her head slightly.

Her change in attitude slightly took aback Astaroth. This kind of mumbling wasn\'t like her.

Phoenix was usually very outspoken.

"Are you ok? You look a little red." He asked her, thinking she was having a heatstroke from all that fire.

"I\'m fine!" She burst out.

Phoenix then got up and walked away briskly. Astaroth looked at her practically running away, with invisible question marks over his head.

"What\'s gotten into her?" He asked, turning to Athena.

Athena gave him the most dumbfounded look she could give.

\'Is he really that dense?\' She thought to herself.

"Probably nothing." She answered, not wanting to meddle.

Astaroth shrugged and focused back on the arena, where I\'die\'s fight was about to start. His opponent was another well-known player from \'ToB\', Lucian_Valentine.

The man was known to always take dual-wielding classes in all his past games, and this time was no different. In \'ToB\', he had gone for a class called \'Demon Hunter\', which fought with two small crossbows.

This time, he had picked the gnome race, and was playing a gunner. He had two revolvers, one in each hand.

He wasn\'t as proficient with building stuff, so he hadn\'t made his own guns, but he was a very technical man. He had drawn up the schematics for his weapons.

Thus, he still profited from the racial bonus the gnomes had. His revolvers looked very rustic, like old western revolvers.

Seeing a gnome with those two guns almost made Astaroth chuckle, but he kept it in. Lucian had a short temper, so he didn\'t want him to hear his laugh.

Astaroth turned his head to I\'die and felt a tinge of pity. The poor Elf was trembling slightly, and you could tell he was very nervous.

He was gripping his staff in both hands tightly, and sweat could be seen on his temples. He knew the stakes were higher this time.

Astaroth couldn\'t bear to see him so nervous, so he sent him a message. He knew the message function wasn\'t locked until the gong resounded, so he hurried.

In the message, he wrote \'Breathe in deep, breath out slowly. Keep your head calm and don\'t let him have a straight line of sight of you at any time. Attack during his reload phases. You\'ll be fine, kid. You got this!\'.

He sent it, with a few seconds to spare. He could tell I\'die had read it though.

The nervous wreck of an Elf took in a big deep breath, before exhaling slowly, with his eyes closed. When he opened them, they were steady and focused.

\'Attaboy.\' Astaroth thought.

"Thank you." Athena said beside him.

"Hmm?" Astaroth said, turning his head to her.

"I know you sent him a message. I told him to be calm before he went in, but it probably only made him even more nervous." She replied.

"Hey, I get it. It\'s his first competition. I can tell. I was nervous during mine too. And I didn\'t make it half as far as he did today. So I only gave him the same tip someone once gave me." Astaroth said, smiling softly.

"That person was wise. Someone close I suppose?" Athena asked, seeing his nostalgic smile.

"Yes. Someone very dear to me." Astaroth said, his heart pinching a little.

Athena could see the pain in his eyes, despite the smile he had on his lips, and decided not to push further. She focused back on the fight below them.

The gong had just rung, and the fight was already moving along at a fast pace. I\'die had erected a stone wall in front of himself, covering his body from any firing line.

Lucian was moving to reposition, occasionally firing at I\'die\'s head poking out of the cover. I\'die was gauging where his opponent was mainly by sound, but he was taking peeks to cast his spells at Lucian.

As soon as Lucian had repositioned, he opened fire against I\'die. The Elf tried as best he could to take cover on the slim side of the stone wall, but he still took a couple of bullets.

When the firing stopped, he knew it was his chance. He put his hand on the stone wall, some runes forming.

Not a second later, he withdrew his hand and slammed it back on the runes. The stone wall dislodged from the ground and flew straight at Lucian.

The gnome had been expecting an attack, but not that kind. He jumped to the side, cancelling his reload action.

This cost him time, and I\'die used that to recast a stone wall between each other again. He then started casting a spell.

The spell shot out three thick spiked vines that tried to latch onto Lucian\'s legs. They missed, as the gnome jumped into the air.

Lucian kept reloading during his jump, but it was arduous.

His reload ended while he was airborne, and he fired two shots at I\'die\'s exposed head.

*Bang! Bang!*

Two huge damage numbers floated above I\'die\'s head.

Everyone gasped.