A Magical Anomaly
Main Chapter 4, Combat Turn 6
----------------------------------------
Choice Made:
[X] Eye. The knights helm might be blocking most of its face, but it has eyeholes. Something important should be in there at the very least… who knows, maybe you can blow its mechanical brain out if you hit just the right spot. (50% Chance to instantly kill the Centurion, Or +1 Critical Wound on failure) (Inflicts ruined vision, Injury chance is reduced by 30 for the remainder of the fight. Or until healed) (-1 Gae Bolg charge) (-0 Gae Bolg Charge if killed (Kills refund Gae Bolg Charges))
----------------------------------------
Dice Rolls:
To kill instantly = 51= SUCCESS!
----------------------------------------
Effects:
* - Centurion Eliminated
* - Rift Closed before ??? could occur.
----------------------------------------
Your breath leaves you as you focus.
The world slows.
Sound dulls.
Everything aligns in this single moment as [Gae Bolg] growls in your hands.
In the space between two heart beats, you pull the trigger.
Red light flares in front of you. But you don’t close your eyes.
Heat roars into an inferno. But you don’t flinch back.
[Babr-e Bayan]’s barrier flares red as it takes the searing roar of [Gae Bolg] for you.
The bolt flies true. A crimson spear punching straight through the eye hole on the Centurion’s helmet.
The sound of shearing metal fills your ears as the Centurion screeches, almost as loud as [Curtana]’s own. A deafening cacophony.
Then the bolt from [Gae Bolg] rockets out the back of its head, pinning itself into the wall behind it as the metal giant crumples to the ground.
You flip in midair, skidding back onto your feet as you touch the ground, purple energy flaring along with [Babr-e Bayan]’s barriers to reduce the impact.
You kind of wish you had a cloak right about now… it’d probably swish out behind to accentuate that landing…
Though cloaks are kind of stupid too…
Hmm… a thought for future you to deal with.
You briefly check around, checking to see if there are any more enemies to fight.
None approach if there are any.
So you follow Elly’s instructions as you rush towards where you first almost died.
The crack in space is much larger than it was when you were first here. Three, maybe four times as large. A swirling multi coloured portal taking the place of the crack.
You can see an iridescent stream of particles being sucked into it, a thick pressure like someone pressing on your shoulders settling as you get closer to it.
But that doesn’t stop you.
Instead, you press forward, one gauntleted hand in front of your face to protect you from the occasional wave of pressure that surges out of the portal.
Elly says you need to touch it. So you put one foot in front of the other.
Nothing approaches to ruin the moment.
Nothing screams at you to dodge.
And your hand finally meets the cold surface of the crack.
The multi-colour portal ripples. Cracks spreading out from where your hand touched it. Each second that passes adds another layer, until it’s more like a spider web than a mirror finish.
And then the portal shatters. Hundreds of shards of something that hurts your head to look at falls to the ground, and then through it.
Reality seems to almost warp. A giant red eye stares down into your very existence.
‘Ugh… it’s him.’
You turn to Elly, and she has her eyes rolling as she lets out a sigh.
‘The fuck do you want asshole?’
You blink a bit before a guttural roar fills your head.
All around you the roar echoes, like you're in a cavern rather than the wide open room you were previously in.
‘No you can’t have her! I got her first!’
It's hard to hear what Elly says through the roaring. A hundred voices repeat the same sound from a thousand different directions at once.
‘Hey hey! Don’t give me the damn puppy dog eyes! You know those don’t work on me! Get your own Magical girl!’
The roars vanish.
You’re on your knees surrounded by broken glass and tiles.
The Centurions body is slumped against one of the walls, oily fluid leaking out the hole in its head as you follow its example. Falling against the wall as all the exhaustion for the day finally hits you.
Your head is ringing. All of your muscles burn, and your bones feel full of lead as you stare at where the portal used to be.
Elly flutters over from somewhere, wings flapping lazily, at a speed that honestly shouldn’t even let her fly.
‘I would say you did quite well so far. That creature should have put up a much better fight for a tier 4.’
You just look at her. Too tired to try mentally responding.
‘Well, I suppose your current… Do humans call it a build? Why? Ugh whatever. Your current setup is rather well balanced as it sits. But with such a powerful foe beaten, I believe you have earned a rew-’
And then the floor near you explodes.
…You’re… actually rather annoyed at that… Is it too much to ask for five minutes without something trying to kill you?!
You push yourself up to your feet, wiping a hand across your face to both wipe some sweat off and adjust your hair a little.
The dust settles, and a blue circle of magic appears in the air, a blur flies up to it, bouncing off and landing gently on the ground.
“Hm? The rift is gone?”
It's… you want to call her a Magical Girl?
A sleeveless blue dress that ends at her knees, gold embroidery across its surface in wave-like designs. White edging here and there to help accentuate her thin looking waist and plentiful bust.
Her sleeves are detached, blue fading to white down its length where it ends in a pair of fluffed cuffs of white.
There's a large white jacket… or maybe a coat is more appropriate? It looks like a large white coat, sleeves empty and draping behind her like a cape.
Some blue gem earrings and a white captain’s hat sitting on vibrant blue hair.
She definitely seems like a Magical Girl.
She has a cool smile on her face as her eyes take in the scene around her. Almost analytical in her gaze as she hums.
“Not a bad job…”
She flicks her hand, and some dust near her goes flying before she turns to face you.
And then her smile drops.
Her look darkens. Cyan eyes turning an icy blue.
And all your senses scream at you to SURVIVE.
“Ah… a filthy Null… Here to scavenge after a magical girl? That won’t do~”
Theres… there's a lot of coldness in her voice.. Sharp freezing winds batter your form for the briefest moment as her hand settles on her katana.
There’s. Actually so much emotion and raw Hate behind her that you probably don’t want to touch that with [Gae Bolg]… at all.
Your senses scream at you to block.
And once more your hands come up just in time to do so. Purple energy flaring as your insides feel as though you’re in a snow storm.
You lose your bearings for a moment when her blade meets your gauntlets. The raw shockwave lifting you off your feet and sending you through the wall behind you.
You bounce off the next wall, landing on your feet and dodging as she appears above you, blade drawn and cutting downwards.
The floor meets her blade and your arm comes up to barely hold back the next, weaker blow.
What's with everyone trying to kill you today?!
“You! You filthy, horrible, thieving NULL! JUST DIE ALREADY!”
You don’t know what a Null is… But you don’t think she’ll just listen to you if you could speak.
Unfortunately you can’t.
And unfortunately, your hearts beating like mad as each swipe of her blade is blocked, parried or avoided.
The walls are cut, the floor is shredded, sparks fly as her blade meets [Grendel’s Arm] and experiences its defenses first hand.
[Babr-e Bayan] flares blue as her blade is coated in ice for a two handed strike, and you brace behind it.
The ice shatters against your barriers, blue motes of light being absorbed into your form as the cold of your insides fades a little. The blow does send your skidding back, but you ready up for the next one before she can get a free hit in.
You really shouldn’t be this excited to fight a magical girl.
You really should be trying to get away from her.
But your pride is showing. Something screams at you to dodge backwards. Something else tells you to surge forwards towards her next blow.
You follow through with your pride.
You’re a villain, and you’re finally fighting a Magical girl!
Who cares if you’re tired, you can sleep it off later.
Who cares if you’re injured, you can heal later.
Maybe it’s time to not push something to the sidelines just this once.
Your body surges forwards as the Magical Girl stabs her katana towards you.
Sparks fly as you push the blade down, the blow missing before your foot slams down on the flat side. The blade angles into the floor as you use it as a springboard, your other knee surging up and smashing into her face before you land on her shoulder and push off, flipping backwards and landing on your feet once again.
You think you’re grinning a little.
…Or a lot…
Probably a lot.
The Magical Girl glares at you as she slides to a stop, blade embedded in the ground as she growls.
“Tricky one then… god you Nulls are so annoying.”
Her blade glows with blue energy, and your hands surge into a block, purple energy flaring up as they’re forced upwards with such speed that it hurts.
Circles of blue magic rotate around her, then slam into place with a shockwave that blows your hair back.
Her form blurs.
And when she appears again, she’s behind you.
Pain blossoms on both your sides, two deep cuts on one of your thighs, one shallow one on your other and a deep groove carved into your gauntet’s as five rapid shrieks of metal meeting metal blow you backwards a little.
You twist around, Backhand aimed at her as she seems frozen in place for a moment, mid sheath of her sword into its scabbard.
You don’t waste the opportunity, even as pain fills your body with the twisting motion.
Two charges slam into place in [Grendel’s Arm] and then slam into the Magicals back, the detonation forces you backwards as it sends her flying through a wall.
You breathe deeply. Taking as much air as you can in the brief moment as she recovers.
You’re pretty sure you didn’t kill her.
‘You didn’t’
Elly confirms, and so you set back your guard as you wait. Sadly you can’t monologue… you feel like this would be the perfect time for it.
The dust bursts towards you as the Magical rushes you. Blade held forwards in a viscous stab.
Two more charges slam into place in your gauntlet. And time seems to slow ever so slightly as heat burns your insides.
One hand parries the blade, and you use the force to spin yourself around, hand gripping the sharp blade tight as your other one comes around. It slams into the flat of the blade, and both charges detonate with terrifying force. Both focused onto one part of the blade, as tight as you could will it.
The blade cracks, it cracks again. And then with as hard a pull as you can manage, you break the katana.
A kick immediately slams into your exposed side, and [Babr-e Bayan] flares to reduce the impact. But it still knocks you off your feet for a moment.
When you recover, you’re both on opposite sides of a tight, short hallway.
Were you here the entire time?
…You thought you were good with spacial stuff… but you never noticed…
Maybe getting caught up with your battlelust isn’t always a good thing…
You both breath heavily. You more then her.
But her blades broken.
You might have the advantage…
Thinking about it… it might not be a good idea to reveal your other cards to this girl… Especially if she's going to be a recurring enemy…
You kind of hope she is.
You shake the thought away. Not the time for more weird villain pride/ battlelust.
You…
[ x ] Take the opportunity to communicate. She might hate your guts for some reason, but maybe you can figure out why?
[ x ] Rush towards her and try to knock her out. [Curtana] won’t be used just yet… but if she’s a Blue like her clothing suggests, she should be pretty fragile, and you got a good hit last time.
[ x ] Perhaps it’s time to make an exit… The floor and ceiling look a little brittle from your fight, and you’ve got a few charges left. You’re definitely going to be sore after this… But a good villain knows when to pull out.
[ x ] Something else (Write in)
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.