Arena of Honor | HOH | K345 |

The time to clear their heads passed slowly.

The heavy blow suffered by the members of HOH for not reaching the final stage of the Siege of Winterfell season as they had hoped was a bitter pill to swallow for proud fighters who always aspired to success for themselves and the alliance they belonged to. The defeat against WxD, although predictable, was painful.

After a few days' break, with their energies recharged and new motivation for future events and redemption, Neik and Ferrious were ready to take up arms again! Today was the day they faced a new battle with a high difficulty coefficient. It was a challenge that every great fighter approached with the intention of climbing the rankings to obtain the much-desired buffs that would strengthen their troops.

The time had come to fight in...

Arena of Honor!

The teammates who would join Neik and Ferrious were valuable members who had crossed paths in other circumstances, from Ana Belle, who fought alongside the HOH member on another occasion in AoH against Meraxes RD, the fearsome FDH warrior who gave his rivals a hard time when the two alliances clashed in AC.

The potential was high for them, but it was too early to claim victory: finding out who their rivals would be on the battlefield was the factor that would surely determine what strategy the group would have to adopt during the 60 minutes.

The critical moment finally arrived when the other factions also made their appearance on the battlefield. Neik couldn't believe his eyes when he saw certain rivals...

The groups lined up on the battlefield were fierce. 

The ones to watch were undoubtedly the Greyjoy and Stark houses. The former was led by the incredible members of WxD, which today included warriors of the caliber of Napoleon, 8JONSNOW8, and STRAW BERRY, fresh name in the minds of the HOH members who were defeated by the latter in the last round of SoW. The second contender for the final victory, the Stark faction, was led by the members of BDR, currently the strongest alliance in the kingdom. Their roster today included the incredible SICKNESS, jiouza, and naima, who would fight tooth and nail.

It would not be an easy match for Neik and his allies, who knew that the top two places were impossible or almost impossible to achieve. “I think a place on the podium is feasible,” said Ferrious, convinced that teamwork would be crucial in this event. “We'll try, but it will depend on how bloodthirsty our most formidable rivals are,” said Neik, a little more realistic than his ally, because although teamwork was important, the difference in strength between the fighters lined up was considerable. 

Only a few moments remained before the battle began: The air was tense and the clouds above their heads looked as if they could explode at any moment, devastating the battlefield with torrential rain. The six factions held their breath, each of them ready to fight to the end to achieve their goals. Neik was ready to launch his attack with his Spears to try to grab a hoped-for third place and get as many eliminations as possible. 

When the first buildings to be conquered opened, Ferrious' strategy was to build trading posts to passively obtain a high score throughout the match: attempting to seize control of the towers and catapults would have been pointless from their point of view, given that the battle for the conquest of the city would have been monopolized by the Greyjoy and Stark houses, so they opted for a more conservative and wise choice.

Sending reinforcements to the strongholds was crucial: the more troops there were inside, the faster they would be built. So, the members of the Baratheon house, with great teamwork, filled them in no time, managing to complete the constructions as soon as possible so that they could start earning points even before their direct opponents, who were aiming for the coveted third place.

"The opening of the altars is imminent, let's do our best to reinforce them to conquer some. The Maiden ones will definitely be targeted, but they are exactly what we need to increase the score created by our Trading Posts, so we will try to take them!" was the directive given to his companions by Neik himself. He knew how difficult it would be to conquer the latter, but an attempt had to be made and perhaps with the necessary support they would succeed!

At the opening of the altars Neik immediately launched the assault on one of them but…

In no time, his troops clashed against those of SICKNESS who aimed exactly at the same altar of the HOH member. Despite the advantage of counter and troops, for Neik’s spears there was nothing to do against the Cav of the BDR member, his fighting level was far too superior to be faced one on one.

“I need reinforcements,” said Ferrious to her companions in the meantime. Busy trying to capture an altar and with attacks incoming, the fighter was immediately reinforced by her companions. After managing to repel some assaults, however, just a few seconds before the conquest… Ganicus arrived and managed to drive away the members of Baratheon without big problems! A one-sided battle where the Av0 member, today in the Greyjoy house, managed with his spears, even in numerical inferiority, to be decisive against Ferrious’s Inf.

Understanding that, neither with numerical superiority, nor with counter, they would manage to obtain the altars assaulted by the two favored houses, Neik and his companions opted to adopt the most obvious plan for these battles. “Let’s try to keep them as busy as possible by sending few troops in each available altar, they won’t be able to defend them all together and inevitably we will conquer some.” He suggested to his allies who thought to play it the same way. Thus the Baratheon house began, wave after wave, to try to conquer all the altars not defended on the battlefield, a technique that could bear fruit by saturating the rival defenses.

The benefits began to be seen right away for them!

The bloodlust of the most fearsome rivals, mixed with their desire to triumph over their bitter enemies, in fact led Greyjoy and Stark to seek the clash with each other and to ignore the altars where they could not gain enough eliminations.

However, this was not a given...!

None of the factions would completely ignore the buffs that the altars would grant them, crucial for the city battle that would take place shortly after. Some members of the houses tried to reconquer the altars that Neik and his companions were trying to protect, but once again the strength of their rivals made itself felt.

“It doesn’t matter, for each one we lose let’s try to conquer another!” said Ferrious to try to encourage the allies not to focus on defense but rather to keep attacking. It was certainly an exhausting tactic for them, but the sacrifice was required if they wanted to reach their goals.

Neik, however, annoyed at not being able to obtain the much-desired eliminations, had an ace up his sleeve!

Foreseeing harmless defenses, the rivals rushed to the siege without first scouting the destination, and this was a serious mistake for them! Neik, with cunning and the reinforcement of his allies, continued the capture even deploying his full potential, thus deceiving the attackers who found themselves fighting against a numerically superior opponent, and for some of them it was a fatal error. Neik’s spears, even if not at the level of Westeros’ best fighters, were still deadly!

However, this did not always succeed, as in the case of Jouza: the careful rival always examined what and who he would face, and at the sight of so many troops, Neik became a tempting target, and against a rally launched by the BDR member he had little to do except be defeated.

In attempting to defend the altars expecting few troops in them, even the Baratheon members themselves could be deceived, as in the case of Neik against SICKNESS, where he faced an insurmountable wall the HOH member. To test his skills against the BDR member, in a hurry the latter decided to launch a rally to defend Maiden Altair, as it was well known how crucial this altar was in terms of points.

The clash between the two, when the led troops hit the defending ones, was spectacular! Despite the large numerical superiority, Neik’s spears managed to prevail only by a narrow margin over the rival, who was nevertheless defeated, and the altar’s defense was a success!

The match was going in the best possible way for the Baratheon house members. As hoped, they found themselves in third place with a large margin over their pursuers just minutes before the end of the battle, holding a record 61 altars! A significant achievement considering they were by no means the strongest group deployed and were undoubtedly targeted by the rivals most eager for eliminations, but with teamwork as planned by Ferrious, and a winning strategy, they managed to achieve the desired result.

During the wait for the natural conclusion of the match, the HOH member also found himself trying to collect as many eliminations as possible while defending the altars where a victory was likely for him. At this point, it made no sense to use further resources.

At the end of the sixty-minute contest, the victorious alliance of the match was Greyjoy! Led by the many members of WxD, their mathematical victory came when they managed to gain control of the city against the Stark faction, led by some members of BDR, who realized they had little hope and had to settle for second place. Closing the podium was the Baratheon house of Neik, Ferrious, and companions; their result was achieved purely through the adopted strategy, which once again proved successful considering they could not have aimed for more.

The final elimination ranking, however, was almost entirely dominated by the Stark house! They did not give up, and once the city contest was lost, they rushed to any available building in an attempt to secure second place in the match, and the strategy ultimately paid off thanks also to the almost total inactivity of Greyjoy, who, once sure of obtaining first place, decided to wait for the end of the match without attacking further, saving their resources.

“We really did an excellent job,” Neik began, addressing his faction. “It wasn’t easy to reach and secure third place in the match, but we were truly persistent in helping each other while maintaining a frantic pace. I hope to always find you on our side in the future,” he said before returning to K345 with the HOH members.

Without a doubt, it was an exciting match against top-level rivals. The rewards obtained would surely help them be fiercer than ever in future matches. Now, thrilling events like Champion City Siege were on the horizon, and Neik and Ferrious would certainly be ready for them!