There was a brief mont of silence as no one had expected Thorwyn's sudden arrival. But when the referee announced the round was theirs, the court erupted with cheers.
Reena appeared dazed at first, but the excitent of the children, and even so adults who had been drawn in by the noise and Thorwyn's crackling lightning, snapped her back to her senses. She turned to her teammate with an ecstatic smile.
"You did it! We won the round!"
She had thought they were dood the mont Sol outpaced her, but Thorwyn's sudden flash of lightning had turned the tables. He got to the ball first when it seed impossible.
Thorwyn's tail wagged through the air as he bounced the ball under his paw. "Bark! (We did it!)"
He was fully aware that he only managed to grab the ball because Reena forced Sol to drop it montarily. And while Reena didn't understand his words, she could tell from his tone and his look that he was also praising her.
Sol watched them celebrate as Orla caught up, slightly out of breath with a few scorch marks seared into her clothes.
She didn't care about the minor burns as she exhaled sharply. "Hah—! That beast's lightning is way too strong! When we tumbled, he shocked so hard I couldn't move for a second."
After her sweep, the two of them had crashed to the ground together, but Thorwyn's much larger fra landed on top of her. His body was wreathed in lightning, forcing her to endure a constant surge of electricity until her limbs went numb. By the ti she could recover, he had already broken free and dashed for the ball.
Sol shook his head with an amused smile. "You know he didn't even use his technique, right? Don't tell that's enough to defeat you?"
Orla scoffed at his clearly provocative words. "As if! He just caught off guard!"
It was her mistake for letting herself get pinned beneath Thorwyn's weight. If her arms had been free, she could have pushed him away before it was too late.
Orla then turned to the celebrating duo, pointing sharply. "Enjoy that win while it lasts! One is all you're getting!"
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Thorwyn imdiately turned his head, growling with competitive spirit at her taunt.
"Hah! As if! Let's go again—I can't wait to see what the Clan's Vault has for !" Reena declared, sharing his fiery energy even though she couldn't fully understand his growls.
...
As their ga continued, more and more orcs gathered to spectate. A Crashball match between A-Rankers was sothing no one wanted to miss, so word spread quickly. What began as a handful of children watching soon grew into a massive crowd of hundreds.
Eventually, the ga attracted several B-Rank mages who decided to improve the playing field for the spectacle.
An earth mage expanded the stone court, giving the A-Rankers far more room to move, while a barrier master conjured a transparent do around the arena to keep stray attacks and the ball from flying into the crowd.
The barrier couldn't withstand the full might of an A-Rank strike, but it was more than enough to block incidental blows and the enchanted ball, which carried [Dampener], an enchantnt that nullified its destructive potential.
With the improved viewing conditions, the crowd's excitent soared. Orcs began placing bets on who would win, splitting into two loud camps: Team Caps, Sol and Orla, and Team Wilds, Reena and Thorwyn.
The na Team Wilds was obvious. Reena and Thorwyn both hailed from the forest. Although that wasn't exactly true for Thorwyn's case, no one corrected them. But the origin for Team Caps had a more amusing origin.
Originally, Sol and Orla's team was suggested to be Unlikely Allies, but the orcs quickly rejected it. A proper team na had to be simple, bold, and easy to chant. Once the orcs learned that Sol and Orla had imposed restrictions on themselves, they quickly dubbed them Team Handicaps, shortened to Team Caps.
This naming even affected the betting. At first, most orcs leaned toward Orla's side, rembering her reputation as a fiendishly skilled Crashball player in her youth before becoming an A-Ranker. But with Sol's restrictions, and Orla's self imposed handicap, it was anyone's ga. Bets split almost perfectly fifty-fifty.
For the players, each round grew longer than the last. The larger court allowed for more maneuvering, but the real reason was that Sol, Reena, and Thorwyn had all adapted rapidly to the ga.
Thorwyn was no longer so easy to tackle, and Reena was much harder to catch off guard. Sol, despite being unable to use mana, pushed through damage with his [Invincible Physique] and countered with his unard combat skills from [Advanced Weapon Mastery].
Orla hadn't improved as dramatically, but her years of experience gave her an edge. Every so often, she would pull an unpredictable stunt that caught both Reena and Thorwyn off guard. Sotis they managed to counter, but often her veteran cunning earned her and Sol another round.
In the end, her tricks won Team Caps two more victories.
By the ti they reached the 10th round, the score stood at 4–5 in favor of Team Wilds.
Reena and Thorwyn had capitalized on Sol and Orla's restrictions, pulling ahead despite the veterans' skill. One more round would secure their victory.
But things didn't go as planned.
"Score! Round ten goes to Team Caps! The match is tied, 5–5!"
Reena's eyes widened as she watched the ball drop from the ring. "We… tied?"
They had put everything into that round, and even had the winning shot. But just as their ball was about to pass through the hoop, Orla perford the unthinkable. She leapt directly through the ring itself, kicking the ball back out before it could score, sending it straight into Sol's waiting hands.
Normally, Reena would have scread foul. But the rules were simple: anything was allowed so long as the ring or ball weren't destroyed. And by those rules, Orla's move was perfectly valid.
With the ball in hand, Sol turned to the referee. "So, is the ga over? It's a draw?"
"Are you kidding ?" Orla scoffed before the boy could answer. She raised her voice to the crowd. "Are you all satisfied with a draw?!"
"NO!"
The response shook the arena as the crowd roared in unison.
"Then what should we do about it?!"
At first, it was a ripple, then a wave, and finally a deafening roar as hundreds of voices bellowed in unison:
"TIEBREAKER! TIEBREAKER! TIEBREAKER!"
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