A Magical Anomaly
Main 2
----------------------------------------
Choice Made:
[x] [Grendel’s Arm] It may be super close range, but it’s lethal, and you can experiment with how charges work on the way towards the courtyard where the rift was.
----------------------------------------
The inky darkness from before slides over your arms. An oil slick of colours shining faintly as the shadows gather and harden into solid metal plates. A few seconds of conscious thought leave you with [Grendel’s Arm] snugly summoned into play as you once again take in the destruction around you.
In hindsight, perhaps using something called ‘The Spear of Carnage’ indoors wasn’t your smartest idea.
Something glass falls from the ceiling and shatters to punctuate your point.
Then again, it was cool. And a Villain is nothing without their style.
‘They’re still a villain. And probably still alive.’
You ignore Elly, she doesn’t understand the way of the Villain yet.
‘D-don’t understand?! I am a [NAILS] who is older than the damnable Fae! I was born before this universe was a thing! And you dare to tell me I don’t understand something!’
You look at her. And then point at yourself.
‘You, Fila, are the definition of anomaly and paradox mixed into one. I doubt even the old geezers understand how you exist!’
You’re pretty sure she’s just… what did Alice call it… salty.
‘I liked you better when you were cowering in a cupboard’
More ignoring occurs. And you try and find a way out past the hole in the floor…. And building…
It’s surprisingly easy, the cashier side having a door that’s unlocked which you slip through.
There’s a small set of shelves, stocked with extra goods, but your bag of meds is full enough. Though you do grab an extra set of bandages just in case. The bag gets covered in the inky blackness, and vanishes into… is it hammerspace if you don’t have a giant hammer in it? Gunspace? Eh, It vanishes into nothing.
The floor is… more active you notice, as you slip out of a back door. More and more creatures are trashing it with clicks and screams. Some close enough to bunch up into groups and coordinate their senseless destruction of the building.
You spend a few more minutes spying on them, watching how they move and attack, trying to find one that’s alone and far enough that you can get some practice in with your gauntlets.
A shuffle of pages sounds out from your shoulder when you do eventually find one, Elly’s voice resounding in your head once more.
‘These creatures are indeed a tier 2 entity. Apparently the Fae have split these, and I quote, Interlopers, into brackets to help differentiate and organize them. I won’t bore you with the classification too much. But these ones in front of you. Are called Mesmers. Aptly named for their mesmerizing gaze. Standard attack pattern is to rush forward and slash at you, mainly against foes who have caught their gaze. Don’t look directly at their face, and you should be fine.’
You nod to her, watching the chest of the now named Mesmer rather than its gaping void of a face. The gold patterns trace its form as always, it lumbers around slowly, feet sliding along the ground rather than rising and falling in an odd shuffle.
You glance down at [Grendel’s Arm] wondering how the charges work. A faint whine starting as you think that.
The whine gets louder and louder, still remaining quiet enough that the Mesmer doesn’t notice. A sound like gears clicking together picks up after a brief second, and then a loud thunk as though a shell was loaded resounds from the gauntlets. A burst of force makes your arm shudder as the white wireframe glitches. A single runic circle glowing an ominous red in its place as the inscription on the gauntlets glow ever so slightly.
You blink in surprise at that. Though it did seem to take a few seconds to load a charge… of whatever this is.
You glance at the Mesmer, and see it looking in your direction. Slowly shambling towards you as you soundlessly sigh through your nose.
‘Not particularly quiet it seems. A pity.’
You doubt this weapon is meant to be stealthy. So you decide to do something that’s probably stupid.
‘This is stupid’
Elly affirms that you standing up and shifting from your cover is indeed stupid.
The gold on the Mesmer quickly starts to go red. It’s clicking speeds up, and then it lets out a screech as it lunges in your direction. The sliding and shambling being replaced by metal feet falling hard on the tile flooring.
You let out a breath.
Pull back a fist.
Watch the Mesmers movements while avoiding its face.
It steps ever closer.
Closer.
Even closer.
A claw slices towards you, and you instinctively let it slide across your guarding gauntlet. A faint field of hexagons trailing its path as the force is absorbed and diverted in kind.
Your other gauntlet lances out, a slight step forward to shift you momentum along with your hips twisting.
And the blow strikes the Mesmer in the center of the chest.
There’s a loud sound along with the thumping of metal meeting metal. Like a piston snapping shut, a burst of steam exploding outwards, and a gunshot mixed together. An explosion of force sends you stumbling backwards as a large red cylinder of energy fades from your fist.
You stare at the Mesmer… and it’s still there…
Well its legs are.
Its chest is gone.
Its arms sent flying into the wall.
And you think its head is smashed against a wall as well.
There’s a loud burst of… something from your gauntlet. Red particles of light slowly become purple before they’re sucked back into the gauntlet.
You feel… just the tiniest bit lighter. And Elly hums in satisfaction.
‘And we get our first tiny pieces of mana. Considering your first kill was a tier two, you’ve received a higher amount than normal. Wonderful’
You’re a little shocked at how easy that was… just one punch… and it was gone…
‘Well, Mesmers are the easiest of the tier 2’s. And entirely melee. And this was alone. Not to mention… you know. That.’
And she points at your gauntlets.
You do have to agree.
It felt… oddly satisfying to punch it… though at the same time… not as satisfying as you’d expect. Odd.
‘I would not worry. I’m sure you’ll be punching Magicals before the day is out.’
You blink… and ignore the odd racing of your heart at the idea.
“What?” Is your eloquent response.
‘I expect that fate will have you challenged at least three more times. Most likely, an enemy of equal caliber as to your newly reborn self, an enemy that exceeds your caliber, and then an enemy you truly wish to fight but cannot match. In which order, I do not know. The first is most likely a tier 2.5 or 3 enemy. The second a variant type enemy. And the last, one of the two Magical girls currently on fighting their way up the lower floors.’
You blink again in surprise… and ask the same question.
‘Honestly. They’ve been traveling quite slowly, I imagine they don’t know of your existence here, or have not yet sensed you. To be expected from one who has no scent of mana I suppose. And is seventy floors above them at the least… ’
They could drop the building to crush all the monsters… You shiver at the thought. Even when Elly reassures you that it wouldn’t happen. Something about how the government frowns on mass destruction for little to no reward. And then add that the rifts would still be open as an afterthought.
You're pretty sure the 2nd reason was more important. But Elly just shrugs.
You work a couple kinks out of your muscles, some slight pains from moving so quickly being mended by your halo before you begin searching for another Mesmer to experiment on.
Of course, you learn from your previous bout. The whir and thunk of a new charge being loaded echoing out well before you spot the next Mesmer. This one… oddly… is rummaging through a garbage can…
You ignore its fascination with the empty piece of metal, Clutching both hands together and bringing them down hard on the creature’s back.
The charge detonates a moment after impact. And the force blows you off your feet and back a bit. Leading you to land on your butt.
Once again, the creature’s gone.
There’s another hole in the floor however.
A burst of red sparks that turn purple signals your gauntlets resetting. And you take the next few seconds to load a new charge.
You try to load a second on top of the first.
It’s… much harder. Like pulling a thick rubber band as hard as you can.
A second whir and thunk leaves you gasping for breath as though you’d run for your life.
Your heart pounds in your chest.
And you’re slightly dizzy for some reason.
You rest for a moment, getting your breathing under control again, and glance at the gauntlets.
The whining is louder. A higher pitched keening like what you imagine a jet turbine to sound like, but muted at the same time.
A second, larger red circle of… magic sits above the first. They both rotate ever so slowly in opposing directions. You think it takes a minute or two for them to complete a rotation.
You poke a finger into them, and it passes through harmlessly. Huh.
A glance over at Elly shows her lounging on your shoulder, resting her elbow on your shoulder as she lays across it and props her head up. Inspecting your work you guess.
You try to… for lack of a better word, eject, a charge. Have it return to yourself or wherever it came from, but the charge remains in your gauntlets no matter how much you strain.
That’s a little annoying you come to realize. You’ll have to be a bit more economical with your charges then.
Four charges down, two used and two in your gauntlets. You search for more Mesmers as you spiral in towards the courtyard with the rift.
A pair of two work together to tear a shop to ribbons. The metal shutter protecting it sliced through by one while the other bashes its head against a window…
You question the effectiveness of the second… especially when the window doesn’t break, and it tries again.
A shake of your head. And you’re rushing towards the duo. One spots you, and its cry alerts the other. But by then, you’ve slammed your fist into the first.
The sound this time is much louder. Not just twice as loud, but more. A sound like steam violently bursting outwards as two heavy pieces of metal crash together and a hefty gunshot sound out.
You braced for this hit, and while it still sends you stumbling backwards, you’ve basically disintegrated the first Mesmer. Sending it through the wall and then blowing a large hole in said wall from the burst of red energy.
Though you don’t have a charge loaded now… and there’s a mesmer charging towards you with an angry metallic screeching.
You… (Pick one)
[ x ] Try call upon [Gae Bolg] to blow it to pieces before it can get in range (40% chance of working, 40% chance of injury)
Charge count:
6 Remaining in Grendel
Full Power for Curtana
3 Charges in Gae Bolg. Full power has a bit of a cooldown before charges start regenerating.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.