NOVEL WEB CH.17
This girl... who is she!? ...just... how did she get past Ashton?
ugh doesn't matter I'll kick his ass for this blunder later... how's Crystal?
with a side glance, I can see she is fine she already covered herself... *flashback*
ok...
grimoire... ready... swords... ready... magic... ready
*click*... *click*
the dust is settling... here she comes ...
-hum that was a nice reaction (???)
just seeing her again... whoever she is... she dies!
no calm down let's get some info first...
-What the hell do you think you're doing!? No human should be able to enter this area! HOW!? (Nicole)
-does it matter...? you gave me the high ground... (???)
-then you underestimate our power!! (Crystal)
Crystal no... she is grinning now
-hum... (???)
something is happening a gust of wind is passing carrying dust blocking our view. but she is now different... she had leather armor that looked more like some fancy clothing but now... she has metal in a weird pattern... how would that even protect with so many metal triangles with many spaces between them? and her previous shoes must have been made specifically for the sound that high, they look impractical as riding shoes but she still has them just with more armor on them... why? she will fall with the first step with such a slim heel.
she carries a sheathed sword and I don't see any magic-like equipment so she must be a close-quarters combatant... curiously enough she doesn't look like an assassin and she doesn't give as big of an aura as Crystal... so she will try to get close to us so we can use that to our advantage.
all of that concealed within a jacket that had a split in the middle with a metal piece on the back
/looks up to the eyes/
/involuntarily takes a step back while having a small shiver/
NO!!! MY appearance might have changed, We might never become complete, but MY duty remains and I must not falter before I finish it!!
-I'll ask once again...!
*while drawing swords and aims one*
/pov change 3ºperson/
[fire arrow bolley]!
three bright red fire arrows flew from beside Nicole heading straight to where Blake was currently standing, Blake just jumped back with a rotating motion evading the flaming arrow that was aimed at her legs while the other two hit the floor of the tower leaving scorching marks and melting some of the stone and burning whatever vegetation was in there leaving only the red hot remains of the stone.
meanwhile, Blake just landed on her hands while continuing slowly moving one leg forward to then stand up on one leg while straightening up her body where it can be clearly seen that between the heel and the sole of her other shoe was a small metal knife that was held as if the heel was a thumb and the sole was were the fingers before launching it into the air and graving it as it fell with her hand to examine it by moving it around her fingers and generally playing with it.
-hum... well made... long... and balanced *whispered* (Blake)
after the smoke settled Nicole's skirt was moving unnaturally and the grimoire was orbiting around its master and both of them were surprised, their instincts told them that the individual they were seeing was weaker than them yet they just saw how she evaded 3 fire arrows and a throwing knife that was meant to do the killing blow in case she evaded and not only that she even showed why she was wearing such high heeled shoes as she used them to literally catch the knife mid-flight while evading...
but that only proved one thing and that was that their opponent was stronger than it initially seemed but before they could come out of their surprise...
-you dropped this (Blake)
and just a moment after saying it the knife was flying back to its rightful owner this time aiming a little low so Nicole had a little problem on making a small jump back to avoid it. but just as she saw the knife hit the ground and burring itself she saw in her peripheral vision how right over her was a kick coming down that was promptly intercepted and blocked by Crystal who now had both her arms changed from some frail-looking relatively slim arms to more robust long clawed armored arms just like a dragon would... (if it were translated to a human)with crossed arms while exerting a bit of force to negate the incoming attack then she overpowered blake pushing her back but not before moving her halberd tail intending to impale her opponent. only to be intercepted by a sword held on the other shoe so before her opponent jumped away she flicked her tail making her lose grip on her sword sending it flying back gating stuck on the ground its edge facing the fight.
at the same time, Nicole having composed herself waited for the opportunity and came running with both her swords in hand in a backward stance and lunging herself at the retreating Blake only to hit the air right behind Blake as she jumped back evading her attack yet again Nicole expecting this attacked with more red fire arrows coming from her grimoire only to hit the grass that promptly went up in flames as blake continued her motion landing on her hands and pushing to launch herself in the air before rotating and landing on the hilt of her now buried sword.
then as everything seems to come to a stop without wasting the moment Blake makes a spin jump in place deliberately hitting the sword guard in such a way that it was launched upwards while spinning in the air landing on one leg to then catch the falling sword by the hilt and flick it to the side removing the dirt from it before sheathing it in a fast but fluid motion.
then once again everything continues as the sound of a light rain distracts both sides as blake now has one hand extended looking as its getting hit by the falling water before noticing the slight signs of moistened surroundings
/pov change first-person/
-hum... it's raining...? I didn't even notice... must be from the fighting that's happening at the city gates... (Blake)
I had read about the relationship between rain and a big battle... supposedly due to the high concentrations of pollutants in the smoke... or that the heavens were sad for so much death and destruction...in this world tho... I wouldn't be surprised if they used it as a catalyst to summon lightning strikes...
they both breathing heavily and appear to also just notice the rain but both are quick to return to a stance ready to attack at any time
-now that we have a moment... wouldn't you mind telling me why are you attacking that city with an undead army? (Blake)
-that's nothing of your concern! (Nicole)
-and the few hidden ones? (Blake)
they only lowered their stances a bit ready to jump on me...
-alright I'll change the question... as you two seem rather chivalrous for... a necromancer and her wife... don't you think a 2 vs 1 is a bit unfair? (Blake)
-you were the one who picked a fight with us first! (Crystal)
Crystal answered me first... she seemingly being a bit impulsive I only got as far as opening my mouth to answer being beaten to it
-if you think that's unfair, you shouldn't have snaked from our back! If you had come out without molesting anyone and chivalrously requested a 1v1 duel I might have thought of accepting, but now you can only blame yourself for putting yourself out there. in this situation! (Nicole)
I just shrugged... I can't help it's in my "nature"... my recent nature
-you also sneakily molested my wife. (Nicole)
said in an angry mutter as the grimoire opened up once again ready to receive orders I just let my body drop a bit to show my slight annoyance
-*sigh...* ...girls... your turn... (Blake)
I whispered... as behind me my "shadow" grew letting free 4 figures that quickly disappeared into the forest heading for the city... it might be a bit soon for them to start working but they are just so eager... well... they know the price of failure.
-what was that!!? what did you do!!! (Nicole)
-nothing really... just sent my own team to find out what your team is doing, see... unlike you, I did tell you what I'm doing so why not make it even and tell your units to not attack mine? mmm? mine won't do it if they don't need to and may help yours if need be. (Blake)
wooo! I can see the tick mark appear on her face as just makes little movements showing her trying to control her rage and annoyance... could it be I'm going too far? naaa
then after a moment she activated that communication magic again allowing me to see how it formed allowing me to see the differences between this style and the communicator I reverse-engineered some days ago allowing my girls to communicate between them I also made an encryption so no idiot can just casually tap into my coms
after a moment she lowered her hand indicating that her talks had concluded tho I can feel a small amount of magic movement around her... mmm I guess... this fight ain't over yet but for now I just closed my eyes and made a slight bow forward.
-well I can't say anything else but thank you, even tho you clearly don't want me... I assure you I keep my promise while... (Blake)
and just like that, I had to dodge something and I did it matrix style but just moving a little to the side it was an incoming magical attack that smelled weird, and even looking at it... there were bullet-like projectiles but the flow of magic was weird... it wasn't moving like a "solid" but more like a jacket moving around its central core... but what fascinated me more was when it hit a house remains a little... big explosion occurred at the impact point... that could be made with high control on fire but the amount of concentration to do it is actually insane... but this wasn't fire it was darkness... another thing that bothers me is the fact that it didn't blow up instantly there was a small delay...
-Sis do you mind looking into it? I gotta block this... (Blake)
I said as I turned around reading myself to block Crystal's incoming attack as would be expected... but I get interrupted by a trio of silvery tails that softly push me back as its owner not only blocks Crystal's attack with a polearm but overpowers her and forces to retreat as I could hear an audible crack as one of Crystal's claws was cracked before it started to slowly regenerate and I mean slowly... I bet it would take an hour to heal but that's not the important part as you would understand I have no need to explain who defended me and as much as I want to punish her a little I have another thing to do...
I can see Nicole running quite fast toward me from a slightly different direction well outside Luna's vision area... she is aiming low probably to cut my legs off.... or maybe my Achilles tendon as I didn't apply much armor to that part...
well even though she was well outside Luna's vision range her ears dutifully kept track of where she was as I could see how one of her ears was moving in accordance with where Nicole was.
then Nicole made her strike by jumping and with both swords in the air aimed a rather heavy hit towards me but as she was being intercepted by Luna's polearm she changed her approach using the polearm as an anchor together with one of her swords to rotate and position herself in a better position to slash at my legs.
they are well coordinated I'll give them that... but I learn from my mistakes and past experiences and this time I came prepared I thought as the metal piece from the back of my jacket got loose followed by a solid-looking linkage and then moved on its own towards Nicole forcing her to block the sudden attack giving me enough time to unsheath my sword and attack.
Nicole defended with her dual scimitar-like daggers then she kicked me making me jump back to avoid it before she jumped back avoiding Luna's leg sweep with her weapon and while jumping Nicole's skirt moved in quite a weird motion and throwing more daggers came flying my direction only for Luna to make a flame barrier dome that surrounded us and melted the dagger tips when they made contact changing their trajectory giving us a moment of rest inside the flames.
-L.u.n.a...(Blake)
I said her name slowly and with bad intentions behind my words and the blade that came from behind me slowly returned to its position making me seem even more intimidating
her body reacted her ears perked up to attention while she stiffened up
then I could hear the creaking sounds as she turned around to face me only to get frightened by the look on my face
-why did you disobey my order? (Blake)
-m...m...m... mistress...! i... i... i... i can explain(Luna)
-don't bother we can talk about this later... just... let me take care of this, ok? (Blake)
then I looked around and as you would expect I'm blind... not in the sense that I'm literally blind it's the fact that I can't see in any way outside this barrier
-master, can we talk for a moment? (sis)
-what is it? (Blake)
-I have finished with the analysis of that magic you asked me to look at(sis)
-and the results? (Blake)
-something akin to a bullet from your world, master, the outer shell is made out of compressed darkness while the inside is filled with a combustible gas common after the decomposition of water detonated with a spark of fire(sis)
-ok, that explains it... that's quite the magic control... must be composed of hydrogen then... how the fuck do fantasy individuals know about it when they don't even have electricity... guess I need to ask her directly (Blake)
as I said that I noticed Luna taking a step back confusing me a little
at that Luna's fire dome started dwindling and I could see through it at the tho individuals I'm fighting with, Crystal's claw appeared to have been completely healed and Nicole ready with a spell.
but as they seem to be taken aback by something looking my way even though they were ready to strike the moment the dome dissipated I made use of that moment of hesitation and quickly moved to cut down Nicole going through the dissipating flames surprising both.
-you're making quite the scary face, master(sis)
-how can I not when I just found such an interesting individual (Blake)
then at that moment, Crystal intercepted me. Still, I changed my target and made a faint downward strike with my sword, then before it hit her arms I let go of it and quickly dropped my body and used the momentum to swipe her legs while simultaneously sending the blade on my back forwards towards Nicole who didn't launch her magic previously due to the possibility of friendly fire and now she canceled it to avoid my blade.
all the while Crystal is falling she deploys a pair of wings and quickly flaps them sending herself flying to avoid the continuation of my movement that ended with a rotation and finally a punch to her chest that she avoided just barely enough to disrupt her little flight making her crash into the ground beside Nicole who just landed.
/pov change/
-Crystal... are you ok? (Nicole)
I said catching my breath
-I'm fine... she just doesn't stop... (Crystal)
she answered me while whipping off the dirt from her face
-she is slower than us.. but she compensates by predicting our attacks... she might last longer than us if we keep this up...(Nicole)
-and what about her partner, where is she? why she hasn't come again? (Crystal)
-probably it was a fluke, look she is still back there, I'm guessing she wasn't meant to intervene(Nicole)
in a simple eye motion their perspective changes to the kitsune that now seemed to be scared and confused on what to do.
-I'll take care of her, you use the opportunity so to hit her with that...(Nicole)
-are you done talking!? (Blake)
With that, our attention came back to... her... she was ready with her footwork ín such a deceiving simplicity... she seemed to be just standing around... but she was clearly insisting us in such a way that any movement on our part would result in a quick draw of her sword, and if that wasn't enough that blade on her back was just slowly moving from side to side just like a cat's tail looking at its prey.
Crystal for her part began accumulating magic power around her arms in preparation for "that" It takes a bit of time to charge it to full power but a full basic charge should be more than enough for her and the kitsune
-I can see you're preparing your trump card... I'll humor you and let you finish(Blake)
how irritating she relaxed her stance but her guard is still up
/pov change Crystal/
she really didn't do anything as I charge up even a little bird landed on her finger for goddess sake while the kitsune seems to have sat down waiting as if this was just another day just with a little fire on top of her protecting her from the falling rain.
then with a side glance, I signal Nicole and we both start running at the same time Nicole's running in front of me while Grimoire moves forward and begins unleashing a barrage of combined fire/wind spells all the while Nicole throws her hidden knives.
in response, she unsheathed her sword the moment we moved and stabbed it into the ground using it as a point of rotation before hiding behind a small stone wall that was promptly hit by Nicole's knives and spells before rotating out again from the other side swinging down on Nicole.
I used that moment and with the help of my wings I jumped over the wall before coming down on the kitsune girl everything seems to move faster as I heard a small mutter before a fireball hit on where I would land blocking my view as I heard my love in pain before a rock pillar came out towards me and I avoided rotating around it before hitting something with my punch and even though it was a weak punch