A Magical Anomaly
Chapter 12 Combat Turn 1
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Choice Made:
[X] [Curtana]'s Sword form might be better to deflect with… it worked wonders against Musashi, and he had a magic sword of all things. (Activates Graceful Deflection) (61% success chance (+1 from Merciful Rep)) (65% Minor Injury x 1d4 (Minor Cuts)) (+20% Critical Chance) (-25% Curtana Charge) (Inflicts Enhanced Stun for one Turn on success) (Takedown Opportunity granted on Crit)
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Rolls:
To Succeed: 92 = Critical Success
To avoid injury = 27, 81, 2, 44 = Success, Failure, Success, Failure
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Effects:
* Curtana Sword Form drawn
* Graceful Deflection activated
* Critical hit
* Takedown Available (Warning, Takedowns are not effective against Interlopers), Converted to Critical Wound opportunity.
* Duelist Suffers from Enhanced Stun for one turn.
* -25% Curtana Charge (20 from Graceful Deflection, 5 from Sword form)
*
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Curtana's sword form melts into your hands with a comfortable chill as you surge towards the four armed interloper.
Elly informs you that they're called Duelists, a variant of a tier 2 interloper called a Rogue.
You see why it's a Rogue variant as it literally vanishes into thin air. All the sounds its metal feet made on the black marble like floor vanishes and you skid to a stop as [Curtana] softly hums in your hands.
You watch your surroundings, backing yourself towards one of the many pillars that line the room.
When your back touches it, you narrow your eyes and focus.
Space gently nudges your left, and [Curtana] snaps to the side as a blade comes down from that direction.
You parry it.
The second one you twirl around.
The third slams into the pillar but the forth catches you across the front.
The blow is surprisingly powerful. Picking you up off your feet for a moment and launching you a little bit.
You flip to your feet as the Duelist rushes towards you. Four blades swinging in rapid arcs that are surprisingly hard to track.
You let Curtana do the tracking as you focus your all on shifting and moving.
Each hit results in a shower of sparks as Curtana's hum picks up.
Your pride bubbles at the constant defensive you're on. But you push it to the side as you dodge two blade slashing from the left.
You twirl around a pillar, slamming a kick into the Duelists side that forces it away.
Huh.. it's pretty light… Maybe not as armored as you'd expected.
Space brushes against your front and you leap to the side.
Four blades appear from out of mid air right where you were standing as they all lunge to spear you.
You land on your shoulder, rolling to your feet as another blender of blades approaches you at rapid speed.
More dodging. More using the pillars to break up the fight and give the Duelist less chances to strike you from multiple angles.
It's hard work. But [Curtana] and [Babr-e Bayan] help to reduce the many injuries you might have otherwise have suffered from these blades.
You seriously question how Reds even deal with these… You've got literal Legendary weapons and you're struggling.
'They mainly use abilities to deal with higher tier Interlopers. The System gives them an edge… if your cores were available, I imagine this would be a much easier fight.'
You shove any regret you have for using your cores away.
You don't regret using them like you did.
You've got Satsuki as a friend now. And if that's not worth using your core for, then nothing is.
The determination helps to fuel you. And you parry another blow, ducking under a second and hopping over a third low one.
The fourth is a thrust, but that meets the flat of [Curtana] and launches you backwards.
You let it, feet meeting the ground as the blow's force gets weakened again.
[Curtana] hums louder and louder in your hands as more and more blows get easier and easier to predict and deflect.
You force one faster looking one into a pillar, and it embeds the blade inside for a moment.
A moment which you don't waste.
You slam everything you can into forcing yourself forwards.
One of the blades gets a lucky hit, cutting into your side on a lucky stab.
But it gets ignored as your thrust Curtana towards the Duelists chest.
The blade thunks into it. Shoving it back and stretching its embedded arm wide.
Then It shrieks.
The creature slows, flailing against the force like a rag in a hurricane as one of its arms is pinned in the pillar.
You don't really think as you call [Grendel's Arm] into being, slamming a charge into its metaphorical chamber and then slamming your fist into the pinned arm's elbow.
The charge detonates. A rush of steam mixed with a gunshot as it blows through the entire arm with relative ease… and then it meets a second, one of the flailing arms being caught in the cylinder of red and shattered to pieces like glass.
The force sets you back, and you let it, twirling to the side.
Your trainers slide along the black marble floor, but you use that to build a little momentum, and then launch yourself towards the Duelist again.
Your (Critical Success Guarantees this)…
[x] …A villain's alpha strike is powerful. Dump four charges into this creature. Two to take down its remaining arms and then two into its chest. The force should shatter the crystal in its chest and finish this easily enough. Besides, Nothing's better than a good punch to vent all this pain you're feeling from your cores.
[x] You wonder…. This core is supposed to be important right?… but could you maybe take it from the creature…? What you'd use it for, you have no idea. But you never know when you'll need a strange, pocket dimension creating core.Try to reach into its chest and rip out the core without breaking it. (Technically a takedown… but crit success and then enhanced stun crit… so this will work if you pick it)
[x] Just… just put the thing out of its suffering. A [Gae Bolg] blast to the chest will kill it if it's anything like most interlopers… its wide open, and its chest is no way near as thick as the Centurions was.
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[]Full power blast for those style points
[]Normal power blast, to save ammo just in case.
[x] Something else? (Write in)