Divine Celebrity 126 (Patreon)

I opened our first play with a tight defensive scheme around eight yards, forcing them with the choice of forcing a long-distance pass, and a short, easy gain of five yards. They chose five yards… 

Only to learn it was not exactly easy when the receiver was tackled by one of the defensive tackles coming from behind, who stopped chasing the Quarterback before he even threw the pass. The thump was audible even from the stands… 

In another sport, it might have earned some shocked gasps. In football, against the visiting team, it earned deafening shouts. 

“Not bad boys, but the next time, hit even harder,” I called. “This was a one-time gift for the beginning.” 

“Yes, coach,” they shouted even as they followed the defensive scheme I signaled and fell into the necessary pattern, and I enjoyed the cheers as much as the Intent that came along with it. 

[Repair +1%]

The opposing coach looked angry, and considering his age, I could feel that a heart attack was not out of possibility. I smirked as I waved, hitting him with another burst of Taunt. To his credit, he managed to ignore it, and the next two plays followed up with a run and another short pass, both targeting players considerably bigger, turning it into a collusion battle. 

Such a rough strategy was rarely used at the college level, as it impacted the games that followed too much to be a winning strategy. But, the coach probably realized we were ready to sacrifice other games for a quick and memorable victory. 

We needed that, but our opponent didn’t want to give it. Reasonable, considering no one needed the reputation of being defeated by a newbie and the team he had cobbled from the remains of a broken defensive squad and practice squad. He met us with equal ferocity. 

A good strategy. I felt bad that it wouldn’t work, considering my team was constantly being renewed by the fake staff of Hermes I created, and his team was getting exhausted far faster. His offense was being battered, while my defense stood strong. 

For ten minutes, they fought for every yard painfully, a time that I used to my benefit and subtly examined Arthur. The damage to his body was clear. Not impossible to treat for me, from what I could detect, but I was afraid of the effects I couldn’t detect. 

I was still a novice at magic, no matter how much the System helped me. Ten minutes, and it ended up with a field goal. We were still up by four, and they were kicking off this time. Then, my enhanced perception picked up something. 

Their special teams were too tense, and I had a feeling about what was coming. 

An onside kick. 

I gave my team a signal to be ready for it, even as I called the System and checked the status of its recovery. Just a few more percent… 

[Repair - Phase One - Progress - 94%]

Fascinating. I was almost there…  I smiled as I watched the team easily handle the onside kick, and take the ball in a very advantageous position. “It’s time for another touchdown,” I ordered them, focusing on Arthur. Even with his rest and my assistance, he didn’t recover that much … so I want to get the most point I could of him before I had to pull him out of the game. 

We were moving toward a touchdown, but this time, despite our excellent position, it wasn’t a simple, smooth affair. Unlike our previous team, split between Spencer and Coach Bill, their team didn’t hate each other, which meant that, after our earlier defensive beatdown, they were more than happy to respond in kind. 

We moved forward, but it was not cheap. Arthur was trembling with the strain of his hidden runes. The break between quarters helped, but not much. It was not all bad, however. Arthur was sacked once, and as he started looking exhausted, our opponent misread the problems of Arthur, and started pressuring him even more. 

He was forced to scramble, which would have been enough to trigger his collapse, but his enhancements had been enough to allow him to deliver passes at the last moment. It was supposed to protect him from a late hit, but not when the opponent was angry. 

“Roughing the passer, fifteen-yard penalty,” called the referee as Arthur collapsed in a late hit, struggling to stand up. 

“We are subbing for him,” Coach Juana commented. 

I might have argued against that, but my attention was grabbed by two things. 

[Repair - Phase One - Complete]

[Recovery in Progress]

With my greatest mission completed quicker than I expected, I was willing to give Juana what she wanted. Her concern after the last hit was reasonable. “As you wish, Coach,” I called, and gestured to our backup quarterback, who had been the running back before. “Go and run them to death,” I called. 

Arthur looked unhappy at the decision. “I can still play, coach,” he called. 

“Not unless the medical team clears you,” I said, pointing at the medical tent.

“But —“ he started. 

“No, you took too much to stand up after the latest hit. The risk is unacceptable,” I said. I reached to him, and started examining him once more. I smiled, realizing that, with each second, I was getting a better sense of what was going on inside of him. The jump was not great, but enough to be noticeable, and it was certainly safer for him to stop than to push for more.  

The repair was already showing some benefits. 

 I wasn’t obsessed with Arthur’s safety. He was an adult, and he was the one that took a risk without considering the full risks, but considering any mess had the risk of creating a scandal later, I decided to follow Juana’s direction. 

Also, I didn’t want her to blame me for cheating to win our bet. That was not a benefit I wanted to sacrifice, not yet. 

As Arthur disappeared into the medical tent, I turned my focus on the game. While going through the repair, the System wasn’t devouring Intent with the same intensity, so rather than trying to absorb Intent, I turned my attention to trying to use it more effectively. 

A jolt of Recovery-Intent was all that was needed to juice the running back and the backup quarterback as they pulled their trick plays, hitting hard against the defensive line. It took three attempts, but they managed to break through the line, and brought us a touchdown. 

“Fourteen to three,” I said with a smirk as I looked at Juana, who was celebrating as well. “Aren’t you happy that we’re eleven points ahead,” I said, and she looked blankly. “One point more than ten,” I reminded her, and the realization hit. 

And, along with it, a thick blush. 

I chuckled, enjoying her silence as she went through a mental conflict. She didn’t want to lose the bet … but she also wanted to win. It mattered to her even more than it mattered to me. And, not to mention, as the official head coach, she couldn’t just wish for our defeat while the team could hear. 

The situation was delicious. 

I would have loved to tease her about that, but we still had nine minutes before the end of the first half. Ordinarily, I would have been focused on getting more Intent, but with the System in recovery, that was not a viable option temporarily. 

Instead, I started experimenting with new aspects. With my increased sensitivity, I realized it was considerably easier to channel intent. I wondered how it would work with active use, and called for a Blitz play. At the same time, I extended a web of Intent between the six players that were assigned to rush, channeled through Tactics. 

The results were …

Even more spectacular than I expected. They rushed forward with a coordination that would have made a professional team jealous, three faking a rush from the right to distract the offensive line, while the fourth and fifth attacked. They even handled the sudden block from the running back excellently, and gave us a spectacular sack. 

“We’re the pirates, and we pillage,” shouted the linebacker that managed to get the sack, the team celebrating the sudden nine-yard gain we achieved. 

I celebrated from the sideline, though mine was less about the sack itself — which was merely nice — and more about the sudden range of possibilities that had been opened to me. The match suddenly got much more interesting. 

Curious to test the new limits, I delivered a few more rushes. A bit excessive, and a couple mistakes allowed them to gain a few big chunk plays. But, I had an even better understanding of Tactics and what I could do with them. 

The biggest limitation, I could only focus on a few players at the same time, and only when they shared the same objective. Trying to enhance both the coverage and the rush didn’t work well — I learned in a play that cost us twenty-five yards, bringing them dangerously close to a touchdown. 

But, that also gave me a chance to reverse it. I called a seven-man zero blitz, triggering the panicking quarterback even more, but, this time, my aim was not the quarterback. Even if I took him down, they were already in field goal range. 

No, I wanted to finish the half without giving them any more points, so even as I assigned the majority of the defense to a rush, they were only the bait. The real dagger was the safeties, who I pulled deceptively forward, giving the quarterback to throw a long pass to touchdown… 

Too bad for him that I chose that moment to enhance Marcus with Strength. Not too much, just enough to give him a little edge in jumping… And, just like that, what was about to be a devastating touchdown turned into a timely interception, ending the half. 

Fourteen-to-three. 

Not bad for a team that was expected to lose.