Arena of Honor: Glory in the fight

By the time the 11th round of the Arena of Honor arrived most factions had started looking ahead and keeping an eye on ranks, training troops, conserving energy for the final. But not SbG ...for them, it was never just about making it to the finish line and if this season showed anything is that they have one unfinished business... to win the City of Glory .. even just once...it sounded simple, but it never was.

Despite their consistency, power and always showing up with everything they had, winning altar fights, winning dragon pits and placing high nearly every round, the City of Glory kept slipping away...each match they were closer, but also each match reminded them how merciless the Arena could be. one wrong timing or a strong faction and that dream crumbled.

Now with the season coming to a close... they were thrown into a match unlike any other and their opponents this time weren’t just strong they were a mix of titans... BDR  already a force to be reckoned with joined by N0X, forming a nightmare alliance that felt almost unfair ...they had the names ,the power,and unfortunately for SbG.. they had a history.

The second the gates opened SbG knew what they were up against and once again this wasn’t going to be a round they could go with a typical strategy as BDR wasn’t waiting for opportunities they were creating them actually and they were doing it fast. After all the trading posts were maxed and just within minutes altars all across the map were being swept up and BDR moved aggressively they didn’t just focus on securing their side but they went straight for SbG’s side targeting their altars before even claiming their own...it was clear this round wasn’t just about winning for BDR. It was about denying SbG any chance at all. Still...SbG didn’t panic.

They decided to focus on what they do best .. structure, defense, timing, and trust. They tried getting the altars they could and reinforced them one after the other..they knew that BDR taking many altars would result in lower defense as it was hard for them to defend all these altars.

The altars battles were brutal...every time SbG tried to take an altar it was met with immediate retaliation...it felt like BDR was watching their every move even when they managed to capture something, it barely lasted more than a few seconds before it was taken away again.

The scoreboard was a reflection and the pressure was on.. SbG was buried deep in the lower ranks, and for most factions that might have been the end. But this team had seen worse "We need to do something!!" GodofDeath said looking on his team "Let’s regroup and keep pushing" Hyber said, his voice was steady it’s like he had big confidence in his team and so they regrouped and kept swinging.

And when the City of Glory finally opened.. so did the real fight.. while BDR captured the city SbG launched a wave of attacks on altars, most of them were doomed to fail..the hits weren’t well organized and up against great defenses, but that didn’t stop them. They attacked again and again..they weren’t planning to take everything at once they were going to make BDR bleed, to force them to defend more than they could handle and to spread them all over the map...and it worked.

Slowly the cracks started to show in BDR’s control as altars began to fall one here, another there...and suddenly SbG was reclaiming what they lost, their coordination worked and the reinforcements landed perfectly.. the team that had looked like it was fading out was now climbing the ranks..and the entire map shifted.

With BDR defending the city and other factions becoming more desperate to climb the rankings, the pressure started to show even more, SbG had fought their way back up to second place not with overwhelming force but with timing, and unity...but it was not over..the arena was never easy..

That final push was when even bigger chaos erupted..everyone wanted points...everyone wanted a position...but BDR had to make a choice: keep up their campaign against SbG and risk losing altars elsewhere or fall back and defend what they had...and they chose the latter...but SbG still had to defend against other factions coming for their 2^nd spot..the battlefield was chaos and it was a matter of timing now “Don’t fall back keep pushing” Hyber’s voice echoed as his teammates fought with everything they had on those altars, the scene was epid with steel clashing and banners waving everywhere, injuries mounting as the fight raged on, SbG were fighting with spirit for that 2^nd spot..until the last second.

And when the dust finally settled.. the scoreboard told the story, BDR were first..and behind them...was SbG.

And though they didn’t capture the City of Glory, no one could call that round a loss. Not after everything they’d been through, not after the way they held their ground under constant attacks. Not after they forced themselves back in the match after they were low in ranking, it was indeed a victory, because they fought against strongest in Westeros and still came shoulder to shoulder at the end that’s what SbG would remember when this season came to an end.

The looks on everyone’s face told it all, no words were exchanged but the proud looks were all there is to cover for words. SbG were a team with spirit and they were here to make history.