NOVEL WEB 377. White House
Ike dashed from rooftop to rooftop, closing in on the white house at speed. He sent his aether ahead of him, already scanning it before he grew close. Instantly, he locked on to the signature and stored it away in his mind. The signature retreated when he drew close, but it had underestimated the range of his senses. He already knew it, and there was nothing they could do about it.
And then, abruptly, the signature returned, more powerful than ever. Ike paused, taken aback. Why…? They'd just pulled out of this building. Why suddenly invest more power in it?
"What's up?" Scar asked, slowing to a halt beside him.
"Something funny's going on," Ike murmured, narrowing his eyes at the building.
Wood crunched. The walls bulged outward, and glass shattered. A horrible roar echoed over the city. Two massive, blackened metal hands punched through the walls, then pushed up, lifting the roof off a huge blackened metal head. A massive mechanical puppet, not unlike the ones deep in the ground beneath Clarina's city, stood out of the rubble of the white house. The mana signature fled once more, this time with a final air to it, but Ike had already figured that one out. They'd surged mana to send this thing through. In other words, they'd figured out that Ike knew about them, and decided to counterattack rather than retreat.
Ike cracked his knuckles, a grin spreading across his face. He was happy to oblige. It'd been too long, honestly. All this time running to the city with no threat, then beating Som's pathetic face in, then taking a shot at racing for the door versus fighting off all the puppets had him feeling hollow and empty. It was time to face a real foe, and he was glad to see that Brightbriar was happy to oblige.
"Try not to use too many new techniques on this guy," Ike warned Wisp and Mag.
"Brightbriar's always watching, huh?" Wisp asked. She hopped off his head and took human form, crouching on the roof next to him to crack her knuckles, just like Ike had moments ago. "That's okay. I got two little problems for big guy there."
"I thought spiders had the superior number of limbs," Ike commented.
Wisp flipped him off. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, laugh it up over there. I'm over here doing you a favor, and you're laughing at me."
"Doing me a favor?"
"Holding back my true strength so you don't look too pathetic," Wisp said, grinning.
Ike flipped her off.
The giant metal puppet tore free of the house and pounded toward them, smashing through the houses between it and Ike. Mages burst out of their ruined houses like ants fleeing from a crushed anthill. They shouted at the giant metal puppet, but the puppet ignored them, focusing solely on Ike and his party.
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Ike glanced at Scar. "How normal is this?"
"What, that a giant puppet rampages through the city, or that a large monster breaks in and wreaks havoc, or a couple of mages go nuts and blow up half the city fighting one another? Because I've never seen a puppet that large in the city before, but the second one happens all the time."
Ike nodded. "That tracks."
The puppet kicked the final house between Ike and it. The house collapsed around its legs, snarling it mid-step. Before it fully freed its legs from the rubble, Ike blasted off the roof and dropped down toward the puppet. Lightning flickered around his body, and purple energy swirled around him, taking the form of stormclouds that lashed him all over. The puppet looked up as he dropped down and lifted a hand to block him.
"Wisp!" Ike shouted.
White threads wrapped around the puppet's wrist and yanked its hand to the side. Ike soared past, hammering the Hungry Sword into the puppet's head. The strange toothy sword smashed into the round dome, and promptly bounced off. His sword rebounded with a thoom, the hollow metal resounding like a bell. Ike's arms flew back, all the way over his head, and he landed on the puppet's shoulder, startled. His hit did nothing? What was this thing made of?
"Ike, look out!" Wisp shouted.
A shadow fell over him. Ike looked up in time to see the puppet's open palm rushing down on him. Ike leaped off the puppet's head, and it struck its own head. In freefall, Ike flipped around, twisting in midair, and swung his sword at the puppet's shoulders, harder this time, putting aether into the Hungry Sword. It burst to life and bit onto the puppet, unable to break its metallic skin, but able to hold on. Ike smacked down a second later, bracing his soles against the puppet's back.
The puppet lifted its hand, reaching to grab Ike. In the opening, Mag swooped down. He opened his beak and spat a fireball at the puppet's head, engulfing the puppet and Ike alike. Ike barely had time to flare Storm Clad's rain aspect to absorb the heat before the fireball blew over the puppet. Rain clouds surrounded his body, blocking his vision and fuzzing his form, then blasted apart, replaced by a rush of heat and bright light, and then he was through it. In the fireball's wake, the puppet's head glowed red-hot.
Ike's eyes gleamed. Time to strike while the iron's hot! He kicked off the puppet's back and hauled himself up with the same gesture, leaping toward the puppet's head for a second try at bashing its crown in. The Hungry Sword closed its strange maw and bristled instead, its teeth-scales growing longer and sharper. "Shawn, your weight!"
"Huh? Oh, sure."
Ike slammed the sword down, putting Shawn's weight into it, too. He struck the red-hot metal with all his might, and this time, the metal deformed. It didn't break, or fully cave in, but it gave a little, and that was more than enough for him.
"Mag! Do that again!" Ike shouted.
Mag chirped in response and whirled around in midair, turning about for a second run. He opened his beak.
A silver arrow pierced through the sky and struck Mag in the back. The bird screeched in pain and dropped out of the sky.
"Mag!" Ike shouted, concerned.
Scar stepped forward, only for a second silver arrow to smack into her shoulder. She stumbled back, grabbing her arm.
A figure stepped out of the rubble of the white house, holding a long silver bow. He looked up, locking eyes with Ike, and his narrowed in disgust. "Enough. It is time you were brought into the fold."