Jaid had never expected that Drim would try to fight the giant head-on in a battle of strength. With his mobility, he could easily dodge her attacks, so she had expected him to basically ignore the giant and use her as a tower to attack her main body. Things became clearer when the vines started coming for her.
The lunkhead she was standing on tried to push through at first, but Jaid was quickly gifted a feeling of panic through their shared senses. Should she just recall the clone and escape to try something new? No, there was too much power behind the attack already, one she wasn’t sure she could replicate. Making and managing the giant had drained her enough as it was.
So instead of pulling back her power, she’d just have to add to it—fast before the vines could swallow her up. She was standing on top of her giant clone’s shoulder, and then a moment later, she was standing on a slightly smaller shoulder. Jaid had summoned another giant on top of the first, but not quite as giant this time, maybe two-thirds the size. A second Soldier of Ruin probably would have just killed her from exhaustion.
The new demi-giant slammed her sword into the giant’s below, pushing it down even more, forcing Drim’s plant-sword to recoil further. But it still wasn’t enough, so she summoned another, even smaller clone onto the new one's shoulders and it added its power. Damn, not enough. More clones. She needed more.
Jaid built a tower, each new clone slightly smaller than the last, each slamming their sword down onto the previous. Since every clone was smaller, they provided less power each time. But it would be enough, it had to be. Just a little bit more.
Eventually, there was no more room to build. The clone beneath Jaid’s feet was virtually no bigger than she was. There were a little over a dozen clones already, and the tower was already starting to feel unstable, so it had to end with her.
Jaid raised her sword and looked down. The giant’s sword looked like it had already cleaved Drim’s vine-blade in two by how much it was buckling. Just one more push, one more good hit. She could do this. She had to do this. She had to win.
The knight took a deep breath and clenched her hands around the hilt, really feeling the weight of the slab of metal. One more inhale, and then she swung down with every ounce of strength, slamming the edge of her sword into the one below, sending a blast of energy resonating downward. The clang of metal on metal reverberated through every nearby mountain followed by a symphony of snaps as the vines below split asunder.
It was just in time, the first giant already swallowed whole. But all the vines died instantly and shriveled away. The exertion seemed too much for Drim who collapsed to his knees.
Jaid, though exhausted herself, had to press the advantage. As quickly as she could, she recalled her clones one at a time to fall to the ground and then bolted over to Drim. As fast as he could even lift his head to look at her, she had already placed the end of her sword against his neck.
“Do you yield?!” she barely managed to ask. Her exhaustion, coupled with the excitement and adrenaline from actually being the victor, was making it hard to focus.
Drim didn’t say anything for a moment, catching his breath while looking up at her, but then the look in his eyes suddenly changed. He rushed forward, completely disregarding the metal against his neck, slightly slicing his skin to the point of bleeding green blood onto her sword.
Before Jaid could react, the man’s hand was wrapped around her neck, squeezing it tight. “Do you?” a woman’s voice asked her.
“Eleen…” Jaid choked out the name.
“Got it in one,” Drim, no, Eleen’s face twisted into a crooked smile. Jaid tried to fight back. Every part of her wanted to, but she just couldn’t. If she was only being choked, she could wrench free, but Jaid didn’t have the strength to even move her arms. Her very life was being drained out of her.
Stolen story; please report.
“So that’s what life feels like,” a wave of pleasure washed over Eleen’s face. “It has been so long that I’d forgotten.” Eleen said a few more things, but Jaid didn’t hear them. Things were starting to get blurry. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. The only thing left that she could feel was death’s cold embrace wrapping around her.
“Pay attention,” the Drazah Demand pierced her ears. It seemed Eleen wasn’t happy that she was being ignored, so she grabbed hold of what remained of Jaid’s consciousness and ripped it forward.
“You should have known it would come to this. To think you were ever so deluded to think that you could beat him, or that I’d ever let you bring him any harm. Maybe you don’t remember me from your time as a spy, but now I’ll be the last thought you ever have. Farewell, Jaid Luciri. Hopefully the life I’m taking will be put—”
There was no end to that sentence as Jaid suddenly collapsed to the ground. She gasped for air, inhaling desperately as light started to come back into her vision. Once she could see properly again, she looked up to find Drim just standing there.
He wasn’t moving at all, his arm still outstretched like Eleen was trying to choke her memory. Multiple vines were protruding from his back, arcing over his shoulder and spiking clean through the length of his arm. The tips on the other side were dripping a steady flow of green blood onto the ground.
Finally, Drim took a gasp of air himself and looked around as if he’d just woken up. Once he saw Jaid, he held his hand above her head, and green energy started attacking her. She flinched at first but slowly opened her eyes when she realized it wasn’t harmful. In fact, she was feeling better than she had all day.
“Sorry,” was all Drim said as he grabbed her arm to pull her up without even asking if she needed assistance. He then guided the hilt of her sword back into her hands and then got back down on his knees. Lastly, he picked up the end of her blade and rested it on his shoulder, letting it sit close to his still-healing neck. “I think this is about where we were.”
It was where they were, with Jaid the clear victor in this situation, but that didn’t explain the tears streaming down Drim’s face. He took a moment to wipe them away, his words were strained but he managed to get them out. “The reason I can never be vulnerable in front of them, never show them any affection, never bring myself down to their level. It’s because the moment I do, I’ll start doubting all the reasons I’m doing this, and everything I’m working towards will be lost forever.”
He wiped away what moisture remained on his face and inhaled a few more times to calm down and clear his noise, finally muttering, “I’m ready to continue whenever you are.”
“What the mawhg…” slipped out of Jaid’s lips. She had watched his actions with utter bewilderment. Had he always been this stupid… this genuine and endearing? What the mawhg indeed. For some reason, it tickled her to no end. Jaid let her sword-wielding arm rest causing the massive blade to slip off and dig into the dirt.
She then let herself fall backwards onto her butt. For her next move, well… all she could do was laugh. She burst out laughing, one of those deep belly laughs that hurt her stomach instantly and brought her to tears. “What the zjik, Drim!” leaked out of her at some point. Even when she started to calm down, a few more laughs followed like hiccups until it was all worked out of her system.
“I lost, didn’t I?” Jaid looked towards the sky with a somber smile on her face.
[Rank 10 Results | Failed: Jaid]
“Hell, I never stood a chance to begin with, huh? If you’d used your full power from the beginning, you could have beaten me in seconds. But I can’t dwell on it…” she stood up and picked up her sword. Drim took a stance as if he meant to fight back, but then relaxed himself when she sheathed the weapon.
“I just need to get stronger,” Jaid finally stared back at Drim. “Strong enough that I can fight against you damned Greater Fiends. Or who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and that mystery woman will grant me an ascension of my own.”
“As for today…” Jaid’s eyes drifted to the battlefield behind Drim. “I don’t see the other three Fiends. It seems you’ve trapped or distracted them well enough. I’d just ask that you release them safely when this is all over. The higher-ups refused to listen to me when I said we’d need more.”
“For the rest… it looks like you’re crushing us thoroughly. I can’t wait to hear how this is all somehow my fault. As for retreating—”
“Drim Drazah!”