Chapter 25: Four Way Battle

Chapter 25: Four Way Battle

Naru looks thoroughly unimpressed, except for the part where he sputters and waves his hands around at the pest flying repeatedly into his eyes.

It's more or less in line with my own expectations. I dart backwards quickly, wary of retaliation, and even with that preemptive dodge his strike slams me in the chest hard enough that I can feel my ribcage caving in. It's only Second Wind that keeps me alive, heart and bones quickly forming out of Firmament and keeping my blood pumping.

Second Wind dampens the pain, too. I see the surprise in his eyes when I stay standing, and despite the difficulty I have breathing Second Wind is not perfect I force myself to grin.

I'll make him think I'm stronger than I am. I'll make him hesitate. Unlike before, with Mari and Ahkelios harassing him, he doesn't have time to check his own Interface; he won't know exactly how many loops I've been through, so he can't be entirely certain about my strengths.

Not that the number of loops tells him that much, really. I dash forward, feeling the flames of Firestep ignite beneath my feet.

There's more to Firestep that I haven't fully uncovered yet. The skill is weak for a Rank-C skill; it makes me about ten times faster to Triplestep's three, and while that's good, it doesn't feel like the upgrade from Rank F to Rank C should. Rank C takes five times as many points, and leaving fire behind me isn't exactly useful in a fight.

Not unless there's more to the skill. It's not just a glorified firesetter, is it?

I'd noticed this before, the first time I was in this Hotspot. My Firestep Firmament kept a hold of its color up until the Firmament drained out of it, leaving behind nothing but ordinary fire. I might be able to use that Firmament to my advantage it is, after all, technically my Firmament.

No better time to test it than now, in the middle of a fight that could kill me, I think sarcastically but I'm not faking the grin that's stretching across my face.

I've always been good at this.

Naru tries to focus on me, but his mother makes it nearly impossible. Mari rockets towards him, barrelling in his direction with the force and inevitability of a train, and he crosses his arms in front of his chest to defend himself.

The force of the blow still craters the ground, and blows back a few of Naru's feathers. He doesn't look hurt, but he's looking steadily more annoyed.

Ahkelios, meanwhile, darts in and out with astonishing speed stinging his eyes again and again. Naru is frustrated enough by this that he swings a fist at Ahkelios, but without a Dispel empowering his blows and Second Wind reinforcing Ahkelios, his attempts are almost entirely ineffective.

Ahkelios proves very, very good at being a distraction. He flares his Firmament brightly at random intervals, almost searing one moment and then dim to the point of near-invisibility the next; it's clever, I realize. All the physical defenses in the world don't protect Naru from the overstimulation of bright, flashing lights that insistently fly into your eyes.

Ahkelios is also still yelling out random plant biology words, which I figure is part of the whole distraction thing.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

The strange thing is, that strategy is working. Naru's looking more and more overwhelmed whatever Reflex skills he has, they don't seem to cover multitasking. His ability to track Mari, Ahkelios and I seems severely diminished, and he catches a powerful blow in the side from Mari.

Even with his impressive reserve of Firmament, he's sent flying. This time, it's his turn to crash through several trees, their wooden trunks cracking apart with a loud creak that echoes throughout the forest.

"Trialgoer!" Naru yells. I don't know why he's yelling at me but his eyes are wild and crazed, and I realized we've pushed him past his breaking point. The anger in his eyes is frightening.

And yet...

They don't compare to the pain in Mari's. They don't compare to my own anger, the thought of this crow betraying Mari and Tarin like that. I've known them for all of two days, at most; I know how good they are. I know how hard they try.

And maybe that's unfair of me. I certainly don't know everything about them; I haven't known them for long enough. But Naru hasn't said a single word in his own defense he's only made grandiose claims about the power he's gained, and the benefits of working with the Integrators.

As far as I'm concerned, Naru is throwing everything they are everything they've done back into their faces.

Then the air around him cracks. He's used a skill. I don't know what the skill is, but it craters the ground, force exploding outwards from him like he's set off a bomb; the force of the blow is enough to send all three of us flying back and snuff out the fire around him.

I grit my teeth.

For all that the skill clearly caused him pain, he doesn't look actually injured. I'm not sure I understand exactly what kind of injury it inflicted on him, but he's breathing more heavily, his eyes clouded with a mixture of anger and pure instinct. He lashes out, and the blow catches Mari in the chest.

This time, it's so quick she doesn't react in time.

I hear the sound of her bones cracking, on top of the sound of trees breaking, and realize that we're running out of time. I'm not letting her die here. Not while she's in the Hotspot and technically part of the Trial.

Barrier. Crystallized Strength.

And because Second Wind is starting to run out, the skill wavering, my vision blurring and my chest starting to burn with pain

Second Wind.

I'm not going to layer the skill more than once. The effects of overusing my Firmament have been made clear to me, and I'm not interested in losing multiple loops to the mantis over and over again. Even with just this, I know I'm going to have a headache for most of the next loop, but that's a cost I can accept.

I rush towards Naru, throwing all the force I can into every blow against him.

It doesn't do much. Even with Barrier formed into a single spike, or a blade no matter what shape I imagine or how sharp I make it I can't achieve anything more than a shallow cut.

But a shallow cut is more than I'd achieved before. It's progress. It's movement.

Naru grabs me by the arm. The way he moves is deliberate. He knows what Second Wind is, I think. He knows what it does. He twists my arm unnaturally, one fist pressing at my elbow, straining agains the Firmament that's reinforcing it

My arm snaps.

I swing my other arm at him.

He catches that fist, too, but my leg comes up to kick him between the legs in an echo of what his mother had done, and that he doesn't catch, because Ahkelios chooses that moment to fly into his eyes once again. Naru doesn't flinch. I don't have nearly the power his mother does, and so his body is like steel when I try to break it.

But I try anyway.

He breaks my leg, and I kick up into his stomach, driving myself into the ground. He lunges at me, trying to claw at my face, but Second Wind keeps me going, keeps me moving. I think, for a moment, that I see a flash of discomfort flash across his face. He doesn't understand how I'm still going, how I'm still fighting.

I doubt he ever will, I think, as Second Wind fades away into nothing.

[ You have died. +26 Strength credits. +42 Durability credits. +12 Reflex credits. +19 Speed credits. +4 Firmament credits. ]

My last thought is that I have just enough points to hit a total of one hundred banked into Firmament.

I don't know what that'll get me, but I hope it's something I can use to wipe the damn smirk off of Naru's face.