How did I get Here?

The day before, Vangark informed his companions THE WICH and Boca that he would not participate in the Arena of Honor with them. The problem was the timing, as he wouldn’t be able to show up for the final attempt, so he decided to join in the third one. He wondered if he should look for a new team since his alliance was still recruiting for some groups. Another option was to join a team of low-power competitors to get the highest number of eliminations possible, but he forgot something and signed up, thinking that the team selection would happen later. Without knowing which team he would join and already prepared to jump into the battlefield, he deployed a million spears, cavalry, and infantry. “By the seven gods, what has Vangark done,” he said to himself, realizing that his deployment exceeded a million soldiers. It was his second mistake, and the battle hadn’t even started yet.

When he deployed onto the battlefield, he noticed he was representing House Targaryen. He saw who else was deployed there: people from DUM and a few from BaN. As he recalled, Chidori was one of the strongest, and he also identified another, whose armor and lord suggested he might be even stronger.

Then he reviewed the other Houses and was stunned. He would have to face the team of AthenaD God, accompanied by other members of his same alliance, representing House Stark. Vangark couldn't believe he would have to face his own allies, and, worse still, the leaders of his alliance. To make things even worse, in House Baratheon were Peacetown and MatJenin. In summary, he would have to face three of the most powerful warriors known across the realms.

He hesitated to place his castle next to his companions’, but remembered that he wasn’t one to abandon a battle and did it anyway. None of them spoke to him, and he didn’t greet them either. There was no communication, at least not among them. So he decided to wait for them to take the strongholds, planning to reinforce them afterward, and to let his companions decide which buildings to construct. In this case, he was just filler, trying to follow the instructions. The construction was based on the trading post. Given the strength of the enemies they were up against, this seemed the most logical way to secure a decent number of points.

Seeing that the altars had opened and without any instructions from his companions, and noticing that his House didn’t seem to have a chance to finish in the top three, Vangark decided to strike an enemy altar, spear against spear, which was reinforced, resulting in a defeat. Afterward, he scouted other altars, but the reports indicated he would likely lose them all at a glance.

The Targaryen altar was being conquered by another house, but Chidori recovered it, and the king of K276 didn’t hesitate to send reinforcements. He managed to arrive in time to withstand the first attack, buying time for others to arrive, but despite all those reinforcements, they were expelled by a single strike from another member. That strike made Vangark choose a path, realizing that one of the strongest warriors in his House had been kicked out despite being reinforced. To him, it signified one thing: failure. Since his companions weren’t communicating anything to him, he thought the best course of action was to focus on elimination points and earn some coins.

He scouted all the altars that had troops and picked those he was confident he could win against, then tried to hold out against a counterattack before retreating. It was a selfish move, but his team was already in fifth place and didn’t seem to have a strategy to turn things around. If they did, he wasn’t aware of it. He attacked the altars protected by cavalry and spears, the most sensible way to climb the personal rankings.

He joined a rally organized against City Glory out of obligation, as the leader was bow, but almost none of the members of that faction had that type of troop, so the outcome was obvious: a defeat.

The king of K276 continued attacking on his own, racking up points, and somehow, when he checked the rankings, he realized that his house was now in third place, only a few points behind the second. He didn’t try to understand how that had happened, but his intentions shifted to supporting his House. He struck at altars he saw in danger, and if he couldn’t handle them, he shared the coordinates. If there were few troops in them, he sent only cavalry without a lord to arrive faster without using speed boots.

Quickly, they secured second place and began pulling away from those behind them. From fighting for his own benefit, he started defending for his team, because even though he was excluded from all communication, if they secured a good rank, it would be good for him too. Achieving first place was nearly impossible, as the Stark House, who were leading, were more than ten thousand points ahead. Likewise, the Targaryen House had the same point gap with the third-place team, and with only ten minutes left, the outcome seemed set. Surprisingly, House Baratheon, where Peacetown and MatJenin were, was still in last place.

The city was still contested; no one had taken it, which was beneficial for Vangark. He hoped it would remain that way, or that the Starks, who had already conquered House Greyjoy, would manage to take Glory City, securing second place for sure. But the seven gods weren’t done playing with him. Baratheon managed to capture the main building, and with that, Targaryen dropped to third place. With the time remaining, there was nothing left to do.

As the same discouragement flooded the king, he began launching attacks on other altars in search of elimination points, hoping to make a name for himself among those who had fought that day. As he returned to the kingdom, the king reflected that joining a team randomly had forced him to adapt his personal objectives in a flexible way, both individually and collectively. Supporting his faction in the end allowed him to achieve a better result than he had predicted at the start of the battle.