Divine Celebrity 142 (Patreon)

When I returned to the main area, I met with a charged environment. Marcus and Arthur had arrived, likely recently considering they were still holding their bags, and the rest of my scrappy team was surrounding the two. 

Against them, the starters had lined up, their centers taking the front with the hope of intimidating them, raining insults and threats in an equal manner, while the coach just watched. “… I’ll make sure you won’t be stepping into the court ever,” one of them declared. 

The backup players seemed to be a bit intimidating, but Arthur and Marcus were enough to radiate confidence, preventing them from retreating. Being tackled daily helped them to ignore the physical intimidation aspect, and since they were not a part of the basketball team in the first place, the insults didn’t work. 

Though, I noted Marcus carefully watching the poor guy who had just lost his girlfriend, clearly ready to turn that into a physical altercation. 

All it would take was a touch of intent to turn that into a brawl that they started, and if I had any fear of losing, I would have used that. But, with my concerns about revealing some of my lesser abilities gone, the victory was far easier to attain. 

“How amusing to see you relying on such cheap tricks, coach,” I said as I walked toward the old man. 

The coach turned toward me, with a smug smile on his face. Too smug, even, which alerted me that something else was going on. “Then, you should be with your players rather than diddling cheerleaders,” he answered smugly. 

For a moment, I thought that it was about making me admit what had happened in front of the cameras … but I didn’t sense any expectation in his expression. It was clearly not his trap. “Maybe you should have taught your students not to bet what they can’t afford to lose,” I said loudly, enough to alert the rest of the team to my presence. 

And the starters immediately turned toward me, furious but smart enough not to rush forward. I gave them a wave and a chuckle, but that was all I did as I moved to the side, and went to the sideline I would occupy. 

The team gathered around me. “Now, boys, are you ready to play?” I said with a smirk, letting Intent infuse them in the way I had learned from Tactics and Strategy Traits, creating a subtle yet connection between them, which made everyone shuffle subconsciously as they changed their stance … as if they were a team that was playing together for years and knew exactly how to work together. That went unnoticed by all of them …

Except for Arthur, whose eyes widened at the direct application. I hadn’t used that trick on him before, so it was the first time I was using it. Inadvertently, he looked at me, and I nodded in a decisive manner, signaling that I knew about his magical capability. 

He looked slightly surprised, but accepting. After all, he already knew that I could use some magic — it was the reason he was sent — and he was also aware that, after his stunt with the runes, I would realize something. 

After that silent communication, I started to draw several plays for them, one that was based on the earlier plays they had been drawing for me. Admittedly, that part wasn’t entirely necessary, I could teach them more complicated plans quickly … but that would be too suspicious. The hour-long session gave me enough pieces to work with.  

And the rest, I could just excuse as their improvisation. 

“I want all of you to play extremely focused on the defense, man to man, and feel free to play a bit rougher if necessary, we don’t have a referee,” I said. The basketball players looked scared of that idea, but Marcus and Arthur looked far too enthusiastic. 

“Shall we start, coach?” I called. 

“Yes, little boy, prepare to be defeated. I’m not that useless kid Spencer,” he said, and both teams took the court. His confidence wasn’t surprising, but for some reason, it still annoyed me. 

Since their center was much taller, they had no trouble winning the jump ball, and the moment they started, they passed the ball to their power forward, the unlucky guy whose girlfriend — well, likely ex-girlfriend at this point — had been entertaining me for the last hour.  

He rushed forward recklessly in a fast break, preparing to start the game with a spectacular dunk. While I pitied him slightly, I didn’t care about him as much as I cared about increasing my Intent, so I subtly ordered Arthur to defend him tightly. 

Unlike the others, Arthur was able to recognize the slight mental inclination for what it was, and he followed it directly, cutting off his path. And, when the opponent rose, hoping to use his size to dunk, Arthur stopped him with a merciless dunk. 

One of our players recovered the ball, passed it to Marcus, who was fast enough to pass the defenders before they could react, and scored an easy layup. 

2-0. 

“Nice start, boys,” I shouted as I clapped. “Just like that, they are weak enough not to defeat you one-to-one,” I shouted, abusing the fact that the match was still being live-streamed. They could have tried to apply some complicated tactics, but with them being dared in such an explosive manner, they tried to invalidate my argument about winning one-to-one. 

With predictable results. 

15-8. 

And, more importantly. 

[Intent Pool: 94.6%] 

I was already thinking about how to use that Intent. Repairing was still not an attractive choice, not before I got a better understanding of the Domains. Luckily, after playing with the Lust for a while, the match was also allowing me to experiment on Command. 

The more my team scored, the stronger I could feel the echo of the Domain, and the easier for me to order them. However, I was yet to discover a way that I could spend the Intent. 

Another source was Acolyte. I could feel that imbuing someone as an Acolyte was possible … and at a distance, I could feel several echoes. It was a much better spending … but there, I had a different problem. 

Trust. 

I didn’t trust anyone, at least not enough to suddenly grant them magical powers, which might or might not be reversible. It was not a risk that should be taken without great consideration… or without great emergency. 

So, I decided to cheat a bit, and focused on my pet. 

[Intent Pool: 4.6%] 

Totem Animals: (Black Tortoise [1 - %14])

At a distance, I could feel my pet was getting stronger. 

Admittedly, I was already having some doubts about him. It was not unreasonable to think that it was the System that empowered it, and infected it with some kind of pseudo-intelligence, or maybe even true intelligence. 

Yet, my doubts remained. 

His appearance was rather suspicious now that I started to think about it. However, it was also his appearance that allowed me to discover some interesting usages of my Intent. Moreover, considering he was willing to defend me against the shadow assassins, wasn’t seem to be willing to immediately bring others to me, and unlike my guide, didn’t try to browbeat me into absurdly dangerous situations. 

I was happy to let it slide.  

Meanwhile, my opponent had worse problems. “Stop it, idiots, start running some pick and rolls, it’s a proper match, not a street game,” their coach started shouting, annoyed by the gap that was being created. His team was already falling apart. 

Yet, I didn’t feel the satisfaction as I watched him shout. There was none of the urgency I expected to see on his face, like he was still confident in his victory. It could be that he was confident that his team could recover … but it felt like something bigger.  

Curious, I thought, but left that alone, and instead focused on the game. 

“Double-team him,” he shouted as Arthur rushed forward, using his physical advantages — which had increased after his runic trick, almost enough to count as Strength I — to rush into the paint and deliver short-range shots and layups. 

Which got harder as two people rolled around him, blocking his path. He was strong, but not that strong.  

Unfortunately for them, Arthur was also a quarterback, which meant his spatial awareness was already not a joke, and he was always ready to throw a pass. Combine that with my Command trick, allowing him to be aware of the exact position of his teammates … it was trivial for him to find the player without a defender, waiting at the three-point line. 

A smooth pass, followed by a smooth, unhurried shoot gave us three points more. 

A great start, and the rest of the quarter passed at a similar pace, the gap getting wider and wider. When the first quarter ended, it ended with a spectacular gap. 

27-14. 

Unfortunately, when I looked at the expression of the coach, he was more vindictive than despairing, typing on his phone. 

The reason soon revealed itself. Another player, one that none of the others recognized, walked to the room, though, the moment I saw him, I tensed. I could feel a very familiar presence on him. Magic. 

“And, our latest starter, one that was recruited by me personally, is finally here,” the coach declared. 

The game just got a lot more interesting.