NOVEL WEB 380. Silver Arrows
Ike closed in. Accais widened his eyes and jumped back, clearly meaning to flee, but Ike refused to let him. He rushed even faster, charging at the archer. Accais' ponytail swung past his body as he leaped back, and Ike snatched the ends of his hair out of the air. He yanked hard, tugging Accais toward him. In his other hand, he hammered the Hungry Sword toward Accais' head with all the strength he could muster.
Accais stumbled toward him. He jabbed his bow up, intercepting the Hungry Sword. The Hungry Sword bit down on the silver bough, and for the first time, its teeth bounced back. It let out a strange yelp and retreated, twisting in Ike's hand to swing away from Accais on its own volition. Ike stepped back, taking the moment to retreat.
Accais laughed smugly, brandishing his bow. "You think me weak at close range? This bow is forged from—"
But it was only a moment. The second Ike stepped back, he jumped forward again. The motion was so fast that his upper body was still stuck in the backswing from the Hungry Sword, but that was no problem. His whole life, Ike had prided himself on his speed before all else. He might not be the strongest, but he was always the fastest. As a consequence, it wasn't his arms that were the strongest part of his body. Instead, it was his legs that held that prize—which Accais discovered at great cost, as Ike spun, using his whole body and the full strength of his jump to hammer his knee into the man's temple.
Accais staggered sideways, his words cut off as his vision blurred and his whole body swung to the side. Ike laughed, landed, and kicked off again, striking Accais's head repeatedly with his legs. "Idiot. You don't gloat when you're caught at the wrong range. You gloat when you have the undeniable—complete—utter—upper hand!" Punctuating each of those words with a hammering knee to Accais's head, Ike finally jumped back, but only far enough to swing the Hungry Sword. It trembled, afraid of the thing it had failed to bite, but Ike didn't care. He pushed aether into it anyways, forcing it to take form, and smashed it at Accais again. Accais recovered just enough to lift his bow, only for Ike to sweep the Hungry Sword over his head, spin, and hammer him with a heel to the opposite temple. The man's eyes rolled up in his head, and he faltered.
"I know why Brightbriar sent you out here. It wasn't to defeat me. It was to test if I can actually absorb you." Ike gripped Accais by the forehead, pushing him down. Accais refused to bend, so Ike activated Storm Clad and coursed electricity through his body. Accais trembled, his limbs convulsing under the force of the energy, and Ike forced him to his knees. "That's how much he thinks of you."
"No—not possible. I'm his precious son. He kept me secret, so that—"
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"So that no one would know when he failed, idiot. Haaa. I guess I was just straightforwardly abandoned… look at the whiny baby the greater being turns into when he's raised, huh?"
"No! I'm the one! I'm the one who—"
"—thinks it's impossible to absorb other fragments. Loser. Can't even do that?" Ike shook his head at him. "I haven't even called on the King or the Prince. That's how pathetic you are. You don't even stack up to the other fragments."
"I—" Accais's eyes turned cloudy. Doubt flashed over his face.
Now. Ike twisted his wrist, grabbing the man's ponytail instead. He yanked it back. Accais struggled, but it was too late. The Hungry Sword took his throat, and Ike pulled as he would on aether, pulling him in.
It wasn't enough to physically defeat Accais, or even kill him. He had to break him mentally. Break him mentally, or come to an agreement, but given Accais was a diehard believer in Brightbriar, the second would never happen. So, before he tried absorbing him, he'd taken a moment to break down his psychology, to cast doubt on everything Accais took for granted. Whether it was true or not didn't matter, just that Accais doubted Brightbriar for long enough of a heartbeat that Ike could absorb him.
The man's body grew blurry. His features grew faint. A puppet fell to the ground, and Accais was gone, no more than a part of Ike now. His bow clattered to the ground beside the puppet, shimmering silver.
Ike knelt and picked up the bow. Although he'd barely used a bow before, for some subsistence hunting, the second his hand landed on the bow, he knew how to use it. He picked it up and drew his hand back, pinching as though he were drawing an arrow from an unseen quiver. A silver arrow materialized in his hand, and he notched it to the bow as though he'd done it a thousand times before. Turning, he faced the giant metal puppet. Wisp and Mag were making short work of it, with big pieces of the puppet melting away, and large sections red hot. He released the string, and the arrow flew. It pierced into the puppet, then exploded, blasting what remained of its chest apart.
"Oh, hey! We were working on that," Wisp said, turning around to glare at Ike.
"I was just trying out a new skill," Ike said.
"Oh… he was one of those fragment thingies?" Wisp asked.
Ike nodded. "And now he's part of me."
He was taking a risk, showing Brightbriar he could absorb other fragments, but then again, he'd already told the man as much, and left evidence of it all over the world. At this point, confirming it only made him more valuable to Brightbriar. It meant the man was more likely to put forth effort against him, but at the same time, less likely to outright try to kill him. A tradeoff he'd take, even if it wasn't ideal. The bonus he got from absorbing Accais—a powerful ranged attack, which he severely lacked—was worth enough that he would take that risk.
The puppet stood back up. Mag hammered it with a spell, and Wisp kicked it, and it creaked, shuddered, then laid back down one final time.
"So what's next? Can we kill Brightbriar now?" Wisp asked.
"That, um—" Scar interjected.
Ike shrugged. "Sure, why not? Where is he, Scar? Let's head there now."