The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

High-Value Target

I'm not going to lie and say I fought even remotely fairly. In fact, it probably went without saying, but the moment I attacked, I stacked the deck as far as physically possible in my favor. Yeah, part of it was because of the level difference, but I admit it—even if we'd been on equal footing or if she'd been weaker than me, I wouldn't have pulled any punches. I felt kind of bad about that on one level, but not enough to actually, you know, not do it. I had advantages and I exploited them ruthlessly.

The biggest one, of course, was Crocea Mors. Out in the woods, there were a lot of limits to what he could do as a Metal Elemental. Restricted to what he had available, I mainly used him to strengthen my own weapons, making even the fragile looking blade on my fingers diamond hard. If we'd been fighting human opponents instead of Grimm, he might have been able to sense them by their weaponry and help guide my blows—perhaps even affect their weapons directly—but he was still severely limited compared to, say, Levant.

But inside a ship that was mostly metal…well, that gave us a few more options. I mean, we didn't want to risk causing damage to the ship itself so we both had to restrain ourselves somewhat, but we still had loads of options, including ones that were arguably more effective than more overt uses, especially combined with my other assets.

For example, a relative simple act killed the lights. Like pretty much all modern windows, the viewing deck could be turned opaque pretty simply. The switch was in the control room to prevent people from abusing it, but it was still there. There were similar controls for the internal lighting in much the same place. It took barely a twitch of effort to plunge the entire airship into darkness.

Or, in my case, 'darkness.' With Lenore, there was barely a flicker as the world got, if anything, brighter. More than that, I could see Weiss, bright white light glowing within her chest, beneath her skin. As I crouched and time seemed to slow, my focus sharpened upon her. I saw muscles twitch beneath her skin, hair shift as she began to react—but unlike her, I wasn't reacting. I was already moving as the lights cut out, clawed gauntlets reaching, grabbing, crushing.

To her credit, the only delay between me taking ahold of her and her reacting was a single jerk. She didn't waste time, didn't say a word, she just drew her blade. I watched as the white light of her soul sheathed the blade, splitting into different colors as it reached the Dust in her guard. She reacted quickly and struck well—but also blindly. I saw the attack coming and shifted slightly out of the way. Had she been able to see me in the darkness, she could have compensated for that easily, but she couldn't and I completed the attack using Rip. I watched her MP bar decrease as her Aura withstood the attack and instead of tearing out a part of her, I dragged her by her right arm and threw her with all the force I could muster.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through the hurling of projectile weapons, the skill 'Throw' has been created!

I saw her twist blindly in the air, settling against the air itself in a crouch, a snowflake symbol appearing beneath her feet and halting her momentum. The symbol sent a flash of dim light through the area, nowhere near enough to illuminate things for her but sending shadows crawling and showing outlines in a way that I could see if I focused, overlaid with the bright world I now stalked. Normally, I wouldn't have bothered, but in this case it was probably worth it to know what she could see.

I saw her eyes focus on me, widening at whatever she saw, but then the symbol turned black and I saw her angle her blade towards me, flying forward an instant later with blinding speed and power. But at the same time, her light faded and I moved. Speed is important, of course, but it's not the only factor. Though Weiss moved with tremendous speed, she had to cover over ten meters to reach me, whereas I had to take a step out of the way to avoid the attack—and she wasn't that fast.

But I didn't stop there. I don't know if I could have done it alone, but I wasn't alone. I had Crocea Mors and Levant beside me and the power within Dreary Midnight and Lenore bolstered my own. I felt my Air Aura surrounding me, granting me the speed of the wind and I moved, lifting hands guided as much by Crocea Mors as my own will—and together, we closed my hands around the guard of Weiss sword and her left arm.

I bore down with crush and tried to tear away at her grip with rip, but her momentum remained and I had to work with it. Bracing my feet, turned with the sudden force, dragging, straining, and then flinging her back up in the opposite direction. She held onto her rapier, but I didn't let up on her, slashing quickly at the air to send a Razor Wind in her direction, throwing her back as she tried to stop in midair again, shattering her Glyph with a flash of light as I smashed her through it.

She let out a cry as her flight continued, but I was already upon her, using the White Tiger's Lunge to close the distance in an instant and smashed her the rest of the way up to the ceiling, closing my right hand around her throat and my left around her wrist as my feet planted on the ceiling and I flung us both back down to the floor. I smashed her straight into the ground as hard as I could, leaving it to Crocea Mors to protect the ship itself, and clapped down as hard as I could.

Weiss didn't let go, probably understanding how this would go if I took both her sight and her only weapon. Her free hand wrapped around my right arm, trying to pull it from her throat as her legs kicked, but through Crocea's protective shell it did nothing. Abruptly, she stopped struggling and another of her Glyphs appeared beneath her, illuminating us both. For a moment, our eyes met and she looked at me—or at my mask. I saw her eyes widen further, a gasp dying at my grip, but then I was bounding away as ice shot towards the ceiling in the dying light.

I paused for a moment, watching her as she quickly forced herself to her feet, looking around rapidly with unseeing eyes. It was strange, watching her move blindly when I could see so well, even if it was the point. This was how the battle of Fort Castle had been won, a single weakness that sealed an entire army's fate. I took a step to the side, air gathering around my feet to silence the footfall as I circled her quietly, waiting.

After a moment, she snarled something unladylike, glaring into the darkness.

"Show yourself, you coward!" She spat, gesturing with her blade and sending a blast of blue light in a random direction. It was a candle flame in the cavernous darkness, but it brought back grasping shadows and vague outlines. I saw Weiss focus on me as the first light faded, attacking again in the same way—but I was already gone, leaping away. I was a shifting shadow against the profiles of high seats as she attacked, a shape that was never in the same place twice. I moved around her, drawing closer with each dodged attack, letting her waste her energy and grow frightened.

"What do you want?" She demanded. "Why are you here? Are you with the White Fang?"

I remained silent. Speaking would just give away my location and, perhaps even more importantly, I knew she was scared. I was glad for it, in fact, and I wanted her to stay that way, to start to panic and continue to strike out in fear. The more frightened she was, the better it was for me—at least, if done right. A part of me felt sick to the stomach at that fact, at the realization of what I was doing, but it was the truth. Fear and anger had their place in battle, but if you let them rule your thoughts, you'd pay for it as she was, MP slowly draining away.

So I said nothing, not giving her anything to attach to me, any knowledge of what she was facing in the dark. I moved quickly, staying close enough for her to see me, to react to my approach. I think…it might have been arrogant, especially given all the unfair advantages I had on my side, but I was pretty sure I had the edge in this fight. Weiss seemed powerful, but I got the impression that she didn't have as much experience as I did when it came to fighting and put in a situation where power alone didn't matter, I had her on the ropes.

It was just a matter of pushing her out of the ring.

I danced back a few rows and crouched down behind one of the chairs. I heard her move and wondered if she would try to escape or attempt to break the reinforced window, but it didn't matter. With a whisper, Levant began to appear, form twisting out of the air. She smiled at me and nudged my mask playfully before I drew away, dashing between cover as Weiss continued to attack futilely. From her perspective, she'd lost track of me in the darkness and now she was attacking wildly to try and find me again.

"How did you turn the lights off!?" She snarled and I could see droplets of sweat forming on her skin. "Where is Hamelin!? What did you do to the pilot!?"

The question gave me pause as a thought struck me. I debated whether or not to answer, to let her hear my voice and actually know what her enemy sounded like. After all, what was more frightening then the unknown, the unseen, something dreaded but approaching?

I thought about it and knew there was something. Part of it maybe have been personal bias, but…I could think of one thing that was more frightening when you knew about it and something made me think she would share the feeling. I managed to find it in myself to hate what I was doing a little bit more, even as I looked over and met Levant's eyes in the darkness, sending a thought her way.

She giggled and it was a sound that didn't come from her mouth, from a direction or source. It was delicate sounding, joyous, and completely unfitting for the situation—and it came from all around us. I saw Weiss jerk, twist around once, twice, three times as if expect an attack from every direction but when she attacked again, nothing appeared.

And then I spoke. But though my mouth moved, the sound did not come from me.

"Have you not realized?" I said, my voice clam and clear and as polite as I could make it—and coming from right behind her. "You are alone."

She struck behind her with a jerk, hitting nothing but air, and jumped away with her guard raised. She was breathing hard already, blind eyes flickering rapidly as if to somehow see, but when I didn't attack, her mouth twisted and she spoke.

"You're lying!" She snarled fiercely—and yet, for all of that, I don't believe even she could believe that. "You really expect me to believe—"

"Take us higher," I ordered Crocea Mors and the airship began to rise again, silencing the heiress. "This ship is under my command now."

I saw her take a breath, swallowing slightly.

"What did you do to the pilot?" She asked. "To Hamelin?"

I considered remaining silent, letting her wonder. There were several ways I could take things from here and that was one, but…

I took a bracing breath and spoke.

"We are the only ones left on this ship," I said truthfully after a moment of silence, giving her imagination fuel and letting her fill in the blanks as she saw fit. Except…I knew what she would see, could guess her react easily. I was aware of exactly what I was doing to her.

It hurt. Nowhere near as much as I was hurting her—I wasn't that presumptuous—but it was hard to do this knowingly, even for a good cause, even knowing why.

"You monster," She said through gritted teeth. I could see the disgust on her face and when I Observed her, I could see deeper still, into the growing fear, the dawning panic. I could see very clearly what I was doing to her and I wanted nothing more to stop, to kick myself, to beg for forgiveness. But I remembered why I was doing this.

I knew the situation that was about to develop, if it hadn't done so already. The conflict outside would come to an end and when it did we, my team, would be put at a disadvantage. Adam would fight and so would Blake, but…it wouldn't be enough. Not nearly. Adam and Blake were strong even for their level, but against the opposition they'd have to face, they'd fail unless I did something.

That was part of why I was doing this. I needed Weiss for what I had in mind next, but I would need other things, too, and it was impossible to truly predict what though I had some guesses. My MP was a valuable resource I had to use carefully, because I had no idea what was coming next but I was sure, absolutely sure, that I probably wasn't going to get a break to meditate for a while. I needed to defeat Weiss, a higher leveled and well trained opponent, but more than that I needed to be able to beat everything that came after her as well.

This was a battle of resources now, of how far I'd be able to get while spending the least amount of energy. And to do that, I had to be efficient before all else—and, more importantly, making Weiss be as inefficient as I could. It was the same as any other fight I'd been in, a matter of twisting the situation to my advantage, to find and exploit weak points to defeat an enemy that might otherwise crush me.

But I didn't see the pain within Grimm. I didn't see the fear within machines. This…this was different.

And the worst part was…it was still easy. However disgusting the idea seemed, it was easy to come up with this plan, it was easy to execute it. I looked at the young woman I was pushing into a corner and calmly considered the ways to fence her in further. I could see her looking for a way out, a way off the ship, but also hesitation.

"Why?" The question came at last, simple and complex at the same time. It was spoken quietly, but it carried in the silence of the room and for a moment I closed my eyes.

"For the ship, of course," I said, building the lie I was preparing on a truth. "No one else suspects a thing, yet. I'm sure you can imagine what we could do with a ship like this. Why, if it were to crash right now…"

I let my voice fade as Levant giggled again, the air in the room carrying a slight, musical tune.

"I'll stop you," Weiss said, lifting her voice and sword alike. A single sentence and all thoughts of escape had fled. If she'd had time to think, she might have tried to find a way out, turning this into a chase through darkened corridors. With my Elementals at my side, it was next to impossible that she'd succeed at losing me, but as her panic grew, she could cause damage to the ship, forcing me to drain my Aura to protect it—and if she figured out I was protecting it, she could attack the ship instead of me. Maybe she'd even escape, unlikely as it was, but whatever the case, it could easily turn this battle into the kind of fight I wished to avoid.

But now, because of what she felt was at risk, she wanted to protect the ship as much as I did. In fact, she wanted to protect it from me, reversing our positions in her mind. And with the threat of what she thought could happen if I succeeded…

I could see was still scared, but she was also resolved now. Determined to stay here, among the monsters in the dark, and face them. The hero fighting my villain.

However, that resolve was rooted in something deeper and it was just another type of fear. Fear was something that I knew from experience, both from games and real life, and there were many different kinds. There are flashing lights and sudden motions, jump scares and screams, and done right they can be terrifying, but there were many kinds of fear. There's the quiet wait at night, wondering if your parents are alive, the quiet expectation and dread outside a hospital for family friends who were wounded in battle, a quiet atmosphere of anticipation, fear of the unknown, and countless others. There was one in particular, though, that I knew better than any other—and I thought, just maybe, that Weiss knew it just as well, if perhaps in a different way.

The fear of failure. The dread that you might not succeed, that you might let others down, the constant wondering if you were good enough and, beneath it, a quiet voice whispering that you weren't. It was a quiet fear that walked into your mind and set up show in the back of your thoughts, growing with each reminder.

I knew what that was like. I knew what that uncertainty could do to you. And with the stakes as high as they were, I thought I knew what it could do to Weiss.

She crouched down after I didn't reply, another Glyph appearing beneath her feet even as her sword was encompassed with dim light. With a momentary shift of color, she was in the air, flipping to crouch upside-down in empty space. A slash of her sword sent half a dozen small blue snowflakes that fell in curving arcs before firing bright blue beams of light. They flew through the air blindly looking for me, but the moment Weiss moved, so had I. I Lunged straight up and landed silently on the ceiling, air swirling around me to literally push me up against the surface. I only stayed there for an instant, aiming, and then was off again.

I slammed feet first into Weiss Glyph, landing in a crouch again my feet almost touching Weiss's own. I saw her look down in sudden shock, seeing me standing there opposite her as if she were walking on some twisted mirror—and then the light faded as I broke through the already cracked Glyph with a fist, sending us both back into gravity's grasp.

Of course, we both had our tricks. After a moment of falling, another Glyph unfurled beneath Weiss' feet and she immediately turned her head to look for me—but Levant had already reached out to me. Air gripped me, spinning me upright and throwing me forward as I reached out for Weiss' throat. I saw her eyes widen before the Glyph's color changed and we were both went flying into the darkness by a rush of force. I don't think it was aimed except with the intent of putting distance between us—but she landed on another Glyph a second later, even as a rush of wind hurled me to the ground, back amongst silhouettes and shadows.

Weiss Glyph remained for a second before she jumped away, shifting position to another spot in the air. I timed another Lunge to cut across her vision in the dim light, a sudden rush of shadow that she sent flashes of light after without any true aim before leaping down to put her back to a wall. Her blade was sheathed in crimson light as she began to edge around the wall, guiding herself with one hand, but the sword only cast enough light to illuminate her immediate surroundings.

And it's amazing how hard it can be to remember to look up.

I hung on the ceiling, pressed up against it by Levant, and crawled after her on all fours. Levant and Crocea Mors made noise, sending doors shuttering open and closed, chairs creaking slightly, a breeze. Weiss reacted to the sounds, twisting this way and that in response, but I waited above her, timed my approach—and struck. I came down upon her with all the force I could muster, striking hard with grasping, curling claws. She went down with a scream, red light fading, and what came next was a scramble. I went for her weapon, her last line of defense, and this time tore it away and hurled it into the darkness.

There was an almost musical chatter as the blade skittered to a halt and Levant sent it echoing strangely so as to not reveal its location. I danced back out of her reach even before another Glyph appeared beneath her and flashed as it flung us both away again. I watched Weiss react, saw Glyphs flash in and out of existence as she moved, searching frantically for her weapon even as I retreated into the shadows and waited.

I didn't even have to do anything now, not really. I could see her MP bar draining swiftly as she wasted it looking, trying to stay a step ahead of a non-existent attacker. She was driven by a need to succeed, weighed down by the growing fear of failure, harried by my actions, and slowly but surely growing exhausted. All I had to do was wait and occasionally let her hear Myrtenaster shifting in the dark, sound directionless but keeping her fighting hard until her strength faded away.

I closed my eyes as she tried to call up another Glyph, tried to reach for light in the darkness, and failed.

She screamed once as I ended the chase and then fell silent.

I looked down at her silently for a moment, feeling horrible. Blue windows appeared before me, Intimidate leveling up rapidly along with a few new skills to remind me I was a horrible person.

"I'm sorry," I said meaninglessly her crumbled, words that changed nothing to a girl who couldn't hear them. It was a good plan, an efficient plan, and it had worked—but none of that justified what I'd done, not even what I was doing it for. I picked her up gently in the dark and carried her as the light returned. "I'll make it up to you someday."

The words tasted bitter as I spoke them, maybe because of how often I seemed to say them. But…no, more than that…I wasn't done with her yet. A glance out the window confirmed my fears.

I guess it was inevitable.

The villain stole away the princess to use her against the king.