"Do I have to perform any tests?" Sadie asks. "Cause I'm kinda tired. Haven't been sleeping well." She says with a shrug and Dr Saltzman intently listens
"You are alright." Vardemus says. "I've seen a lot of what you can do at the University."
"Right." Sadie remembers
"Well, there's only one person left to test." Dr Saltzman says, looking over at Hope
"No test needed." Hope says, standing in front of them. "Right, Wayne?"
"Uh, well, I made up a humanity-off sheet for her." Wade says. "And she's basically the perfect fighter. Uh, incredible magical power levels, unencumbered by morality, with no discernible weaknesses."
Sadie watches as Hope's body language changes slightly before she tries to cover it up. Sadie turns her head in confusion
***
"This is your field of battle." Vardemus explains. "Vampires can move across the board in one turn. The speed of the gods varies. And these... are your opponents. I took the liberty of creating some automatons for the purposes of our game." He says, revealing the figures on the other side of the board. "Hopefully, I did them justice. I haven't used magic to sculpt since the last Wizard Games." He lists the opponents. "Aurora de Martel. My erstwhile student, Jen. Her father, Ken. The father of an entire family of gods. And finally... Elizabeth."
"Lizzie wouldn't fight against us." Dr Saltzman says
"How much you willing to bet?" Hope asks
"I'm afraid Hope is right." Vardemus says. "To be sure of victory, you must plan for the worst-case scenario. And Elizabeth is a wild card."
"But I scored her loyalty to the gods pretty low." Wade says. "She can still be flipped back to our side."
"The two sides will alternate turns, with the Manticulum declaring success or failure of your moves based on the scores we've fed it." Vardemus explains. "We'll draw for first move." He says, holding his hands closed behind his back
"Right one." Hope choose
"The first move is yours." Vardemus says, opening his hand to reveal to object
***
"If we could just talk to Lizzie, we can flip her back to our side." Dr Saltzman says. "Our first move should be getting her to safety."
"You're wasting our first strike." Hope tells him. "This is war, okay? People are gonna die."
"She's valuable in war, Hope." Dr Saltzman says
"MG vamps to Lizzie." Hope directs
MG follows her command and vamps over. "Hey, beautiful." He says
"Aurora attacks MG." Ben directs and Aurora walks over to him
"Aurora kills MG." Wade reads the diagnostic
"Which turns Lizzie to your side." Vardemus says
"Ah, so not a total loss." Hope says as MG steps off the board
"In a rage, Lizzie kills Aurora." Wade reads
"My father attacks Lizzie." Ben directs
"Lizzie dies." Wade reads
"Well, looks like we're gonna be going to another Lizzie funeral." Hope snarks
"The probability of success has dropped to zero percent." Vardemus announces. "You lose." He reads the diagnostic. "Fascinating. As soon as Lizzie died, there was simply no move you could make that would lead to victory."
YOU ARE READING
Sadie Auburn //Book Four// - Legacies (COMPLETED)
FanfictionWith Hope's humanity off and her on a rampage, what it is going to take for the Super Squad to bring back their fearless leader? With no way to track Hope, Sadie decides that sitting around and waiting at the Salvatore School isn't the way she's goi...
The Only Way Out Is Through
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