FANN
“Might be able to buy us some time for the evacuation,” Ms. Fadden explained as the four Knights flew across the fields of Trego in their hovercar. They had liberated it from a few startled enforcers, and it came with the added benefit of a communications system. “If you can keep him busy long enough, that is. The Chistani will be in firing range in...much too soon for comfort, honestly, so anything you can do to convince them not to fire...”
“We'll do everything we can,” Verro promised. “We've almost caught up to him. Wish us luck.”
“Good luck.” She clicked off the line, and Verro hung up the communicator.
“Do you think she has a plan for what to do if we win?” Fann asked.
“Would you?” Sasha asked, and Fann could only shrug in response. Through the aircar's front screen they saw an enormous pillar of dust rise into the air.
“I see him,” Verro said.
“No kidding,” Fann snorted.
“He's in Tragam,” Verro continued. “Probably fighting that evacuation team Ms. Fadden mentioned.”
“Does he still hold Aurina captive?” J'vann asked.
“Yeah,” Verro nodded, pulling back a glowing arrow of auram. He held it for far longer than normal, and the energy it was formed of began to pulse and spin.
They swooped low over the village. Nodd had already killed all the enforcers, and a few of the buildings were in ruins. Verro had a feeling that would be generally true once the fight was over, assuming there was a planet left for the village to be on.Priority one was Aurina, still hanging unconscious over the pirate's shoulder. Verro fired his spinning arrow into Balthazar's calf. It didn't look like an arrow in flight but the straight, sharp line of a laser beam and, when it struck, it made the pirate flinch enough to let go of his captive.
Fann was already airborne, catching her before she could fall and jumping off the air to get back into the air car. When he laid her down carfully on the floor Charu looked up at the knight and chirped.
“You stuck with her the whole time huh?” Fann scratched little rabbit thing between the ears. “It's okay little guy. I've got the autopilot set to ride this thing right back to the evacuation zone, Mz. Fadden already has them keeping an eye out. Oh and I brought your other little friend!” He pulled Booky out of his pocket and laid the two headed snail on Aurina's chest, where it snuggled its owner's chin worriedly. “You two take care of her alright? I gotta go.”
The aircar was already moving away from the battlefield, but he leaped from the doors and with a couple of jumps in the air made it back into the fight.
VERRO
Balthazar watched the air car fly off into the distance with a disappointed snarl. He chopped his hand through the air and sent a slicing blade of pressure after it, but one of Verro's arrows intercepted the blade and exploded, turning the attack into a scattered flurry of harmless wind.
“So that's how Arlo's arrows worked!” Verro said triumphantly. “Finally got it! Alright, time to try the big idea for real...”
“Old man said you'd still be alive,” Balthazar smiled. “Guess he was right. You're all tougher than you look.”
“Old man?” Sasha asked.
“Yeah old guy,” Balthazar said. “Seemed to be in charge here. Had a lot of good to say about you all. Don't bother asking, I already killed him.”
“Chaddim,” J'vann said, briefly closing his eyes and pressing fingers to palm.
“I guess I gotta congratulate you,” the pirate continued. “Been a long time since somebody rescued a hostage off me.”
“Looks like that's not all that happened lately,” Verro said, his eagle eyes examining the pirate's body. “Is it just me or do you have two extra scars since the last time we fought you?”
“Oh yeah!” Balthazar rumbled. “That dragon kid, the one with the sword! Best fight I've had since I landed on this dirtball. He actually managed to tag me before I killed him! Twice even.”
“I believe you're attempt was to shock us with news of our comrades death,” J'vann said. “But we accepted that possibility when we found his abandoned sword.”
“All we heard,” Sasha agreed, “is that you're not really invincible.”
“So one of you, I'd guess the toughest one, got a couple hits in and now you're having delusions of grandeur?” Balthazar laughed. “What are you gonna do? Fighting you is pointless, I already beat all three of your sorry asses.”
“Excuse me!” Fann shouted, leaping through the air. “You beat all four of our sorry asses!”
His midair charge ended with a downward slash at Balthazar's head the pirate easily blocked with his forearm. Undeterred the bat knight darted through the air, landing slash after useless slash on his oppnent's skin. Balthazar endured the attack for a while with exaggerated patience, then summoned another whirlwind to blow them all away like he had in the city.
Only this time, the knights endured.
Fann stabbed his sword into the dirt to anchor himself, getting pushed a few feet away but not being blown. The others similarly weathered the storm, gripping onto rocks or plunging their own weapons to the ground as anchors. When balthazar opened his mouth to comment what came out was a chocking gurgle and a spray of thing blood with ugly, flesh chunks inside it. He fell to one knee clutching his gut and spat something red and wiggling onto the ground.
“What did you do?” he rasped.
“Trick I came up with to fight Jurgo,” Fann grinned. “Trying to get through that crystal armor. I went with something else because I practiced it on a sack of melons a little bit and I decided it wouldn't work, not on anyone with a healthy body. But you don't have one of those, do you? You're so tough we forget you're still dying. Ms. Fadden said you were barely talking anymore without hacking up blood. I guess you're holding all that in while you fight, but still. On somebody who's organs are already falling apart this trick works just fine.”
In trying to get through Jurgo's armor Fann's first thought had been to exploit the properties of his vibroblade. His plan had been to make every strike emit a low frequency sonic pulse in the instant it landed, sending them into his opponents body and damaging them from the inside out. His tests with the melons and a little research told him it would never work on someone fit and strong like Jurgo...but like he'd said, Balthazar was falling apart.
“Looks like I'm the second guy to wound you today,” Fann grinned. “Still think fighting us us pointless?”
“Nah,” the pirate smiled, wiping blood off his chin and standing up. “Not now that I know you plan to make it interesting. Come on, show me what you got!”
Verro fired.
During Fann's assault Verro had been summoning his new arrow. It was longer than his arm, spinning at the tip like the one that made the pirate flinch before. It flew through the air like a missile, crashing into Balthazar's chest with a fiery explosion. He stumbled back, a fresh gash across his chest standing out against the soot left by the explosion.
Sasha's four duplicates stood in front of her, two kneeling on the ground and two standing, their spears held out towards Balthazar so their points formed a perfect square. One of those spears was her original, since if she'd been holding her original spear herself she'd only get one shot. The spears held by her duplicates crackled with electricity and Sasha threw the one she held directly between them. There was a hum of electric power and the makeshift railgun accelerated the spear until it became a blur, piercing a bloody hole through the outside of Balthazar's thigh.
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J'vann's bludgeon hovered in the air, the end pointed at Balthazar, wrapped in wrings of green vines. The Verdant Knight dropped into the bare-handed fighting stance he'd used fighting the unfortunate Hoger, but instead of his opponent he directed his palm strikes at the end of the tree trunk weapon closest to him. The end pointed toward his enemy flared with green light and shot out an enormous hand formed from glowing green auram, palm forward. It shot across the street and caught Balthazar in the gut, sending him flying backwards into a building that crumpled from the impact.
From within the shattered building, he started laughing.
It turned into a cough but his motions were steady as he picked himself out of the debris. His wounds clenched themselves shut as he rolled the stiffness out of his shoulders.
“Alright,” he said, cricking his neck. “I'll fight you for real.”
And for the first time since landing on Trego thirty one years ago, Balthazar Nodd dropped into a fighting stance. And observer might have been forgiven for thinking Nodd was a brawler, using his instincts and his raw power to make gaps in skill with his opponent irrelevant. And most of the time, he was. It was a rare opponent who could make him fight seriously.
Which of course, the knights thought worriedly, meant he hadn't been fighting seriously so far.
J'vann fired another palm shaped blast of light but Balthazar met it with a palm strike of his own, shattering the auram like glass. Sasha sent another railgun-spear his way, meant to pierce his throat but only grazing his shoulder as he weaved out of the way. Fann darted in for another flurry of organ-melting sonic shrikes but an elbow strike with an accompanying wave of force from the pirate made him dodge out of the way before he could do anything.
Finally, one of Verro's missile arrows hit Balthazar in the shin and dropped the pirate to one knee. The Verdant Knight was charging up a second strike when the pirate charged, turning his fall into a runners starting crouch. Verro had charged a second arrow as soon as he'd fired the first, but when he fired Balthazar knocked it away with a forearm and continued towards Verro, aiming a punch at the Eagle Knight's gut, a ring of swirling air around his wrist. When Verro tried to dodge, he found himself getting sucked back intothe blow.
It's a vacuum, Verro realized in the moments before the blow struck. Whatever he's doing on his wrist is sucking the air away from the front of it, pulling me into the strike... There wasn't time to do anything but cross his forearms and try to block. There was an ugly crunching sound as the fist impacted, lifting Verrow up and throwing him across town until he crashed through a second story window.
But while he was punching Verro into the middle distance he'd opened his back to J'vann, who delivered a machine-gun series of palm strikes to the weapon, firing a barrage of glowing auram palms. Balthazar snarled and turned to block them with strikes of his own, but while he was doing so a spear stabbed him in the hip. It dug deep, catching on his pelvic bone before shattering into gleaming auram sparkles and leaving a bloody hole. He roared in pain.
Fann didn't give the pirate any time to catch his bearings, his sonic-slashes striking Balthazar in the back over and over again untile he stumbled and coughed up thick bloody matter. A glowing palm hit him in the face and chest, sending him flying backwards and crashing through buildings as he went. Sasha took aim and shot another railgun spear that would have pierced his heart if it landed, but even as he slammed through walls the Pirate managed to catch it in a fist and shatter it just before he hit the ground, digging a furrow in the dirt until he finally came to a stop in front of a house.
The knights chased after him, but by the time they arrived he was already standing, his wounds closing. More than that something was happening to his body. It was as if he was tightening somehow, every veign bulging, every muscle twisting. He charged for J'vann. The Verdant Knight saw the huge pirate coming and tried to knock him back with another barrage of auram-palms, but Balthazar lowered his shoulder and tackled through them leaving a trail of glittering auram in his wake. He reach J'vann and punched the knight in the gut. J'vann stumbled back, coughing up blood, but before he could fall or fight or run Balthazar opened his hand like a claw and slammed it into the kight's torso, five spears of pure force piercing J'vann's body and coming out through his back in a bloody spray.
Balthazar dropped him and started to turn towards the other knights, but a motion made him pause. J'vann stood but not, it seemed, to fight. His body stretched and distended, his arms growing longer and thicker, sprouting into huge leafy branches. His legs did the same, thickening and spreadying and sinking roots into the ground. His skin grew wooden, and his eyes closed. Growing in the middle of the field was a tree that looked like a living sculpture, every curve and rupple of J'vann's muscular body preserved in wood, his body arched and his arms above his heat sprouting into leafy branches.
“Healing skill?” Balthazar wondered aloud. “Whatever, he's dead enough for now.”
One of Verro's missile arrows flew over Balthazar's shoulder. The pirate watched it pass with a raised eyebrow. Some distance away Verro cursed loudly and kicked the ground. He'd survived Balthazar's blow, but now his hands trembled. There were shooting pains from his wrist to his elbow, worse every time he tried to move. He was pretty sure his arms were fractured. He could barely aim an arrow like this. Cursing, he ran to see if there was any way he could help out closer in.
But Fann was closer, and Fann's heart had just been broken.
“J'VANN!” Fann screamed, leap at Balthazar and delivering another flurry of slashes. Only this time he was distraught, and he blows were too unfocused to create the sonic pulse which could injure the pirate.
“You close your eyes when you strike,” Balthazar said, deflecting the katana strikes. “Only an idiot would do that unless they could see better with their eyes closed. Know what I think? I think you're using echo location. Sound. So how about this?”
Just as Fann jumped in the air and brought his blade down at Balthazar's head the pirate opened his mouth and yelled. There were no words, just an inarticulate shout. But the sound waves were energy produced by his body, and so the Indomitable Regalia could strengthen them, and when the empowered sound waves hit Fann the Bat Knight stopped in midair. He screamed in agony as blood poured from his ears. Balthazar raised both hands and spiked Fann like a volleyball, slamming him to the ground and skipping him along it like a stone tossed across the surface of a lake.
“I call that move “Hell's Gate Creaking,” The pirate laughed. “Do you kids still name your techniques these days? We all used to do it, way back--”
He cut his reminiscing short to punch a lightning charged spear out of the air. He shifted his focus directly to Sasha, knocking her duplicates aside and grabbing her by the spear arm. As he lifted her into the air she hissed in pain and tried to punch and kick him with her free hanging limbs.
“You were the second biggest threat,” he said, squeezing tightly with his hand. There was a cracking sound, and Sasha screamed. “I was gonna do you in order but the little guy with the katana got in the way. Well, one three two works for me. I just broke your spear arm, but you'll be even less of a threat if I rip both your arms off. And I can't forget you put a couple holes in me, can I? Guess I'm taking the legs too.”
He reached out to mutilate Sasha's limbs but a missile arrow struck him in the back, making him stumble forward. When he turned around another arrow flew past his face, exploding not into force and flame but flashing dancing likes that strobed and seared the eyes. Balthazar roared in frustration, throwing his hands over his eyes and letting Sasha go. Verro caught her, he'd started running as soon as he'd fired the dazzling arrow. He grunted in agony as her weight fell into his arms, and it was lucky she was still okay to run so long as she she clutched her own useless arm. He never could have carried her.
“Your arms are seriously injured,” she said, once the two of them had ducked around a corner.
“You're one to talk!” Verro laughed. “At least mine aren't tied into pretzels.”
“In a moment my injury will be healed,” she said. “I'm sorry, Verro. I should have led with this one. I was scared. Scared of myself, and scared for all of you.”
“What are you talking about?” Verro said.
“I still have a power I kept in reserve,” she said. “One more technique that might help. I don't think J'vann and Fann are dead. Not yet. They don't smell dead. I need you to look after them while I do this. And whatever you do, don't attack Balthazar yourself. Don't rush in to try and help. If things are going badly for me, don't even shout my name in shock. Don't do anything that might draw my attention your way, alright?”
“What?” Verro said. “What are you talking about? What are you going to do?”
“Just look after them!” She said, running back towards Balthazar. “And pray this works, it's the last trick I've got!”
The pirate was still rubbing that blindness out of his eyes, muttering and cursing about cheap tricks. Sasha grabbed her real spear from where the duplicate holding it had been destroyed and held it out in front of her, her shattered arm dripping blood where the bone poked through. She ignored the pain and closed her eyes, summoning auram. First it glowed around her body in a halo, but then it began to change into something new. Something raw and red that crackled like lightning and snarled like a monster.
And Sasha began to change.
She grew taller and taller. No not just taller, bigger. Her body bulked, veiny muscles rippling down her arms and legs, across her chest, up into her neck. Her face widened too, her jaw stronger, her nose receding. Her lips opened in a snarl revealing that her teeth had become long and jagged and sharp, black with a luster that spoke not of rot but of hardened metal. Her fingernails grew out into shining black claws, and her boots burst open showing her toenails had done the same Hair grew on her arms and legs, down the back of her neck and the side of her head, framing her face.
He transformation complete she threw her head back and howled. Somewhere deep inside she was still Sasha the Huntress, but that was now one fifth of what she was. She had summoned her duplicates inside her, as a part of her, and those duplicates were born of her Regalia. They were of the wolf, and most importantly a wolf's ferocity. In this form she had sacrificed the will that normally controlled them in exchange for power. Tyram had complained about his sword, but he had a thousand more times control over his weapon than Sasha had over this form. All she could really trust it to do was attack the closest thing that lived.
She opened glowing red eyes and they locked on Balthazar. A still human part of her brain thought how odd it was to look down on the huge pirate, but it was lost in rage as he challenged her. Balthazar approached her without fear, staring up and looking straight into the burning coals of her eyes as he took his fighting stance again.
“Anytime you're ready,” he said. The Wolf howled and charged.