Tize unsynced from Xard, who wouldn’t need his assistance just shooting down aircrafts. Due to the sense of urgency, rather than letting his light particles leisurely float down to Itsy, he warped them right next to her and began attaching himself. The man could travel the world essentially instantaneously, but only when summoned, and it also took more out of him than just flying manually.
Within a few seconds, Itsy had ascended into her final form of the Wrathful Wrecking Ball, ready to wreak havoc in the battlefield. Dicatta leapt onto the back of the unconventional vehicle, grabbing onto the seam around Itsy’s neck. They lurched forward, zooming across the open space. It almost sent Dice flying at first, but he managed to regain his grip.
Itsy plowed right through the pile of soldiers that had stopped to shoot her, blasting them away like bowling pins. They didn’t even slow the trio down, barely more than flies on the woman’s nonexistent windshield. What did stop them, however, was the anti-air turret itself—made of stronger stuff than the fleshy humans, and actually tougher than it looked at first appearance.
The wrecking ball plinked off the side and was sent flying backwards with a reverberating clang. There was also a surge of electricity that briefly sparked into the ball until it got far enough away from the turret. Itsy was knocked over on her side, but she was able to get back up quickly with a few twists of her wheels once the shock wore off. While she could normally tear through vehicles and standard artillery, these weapons had clearly been designed with Fiends in mind.
But that was why Itsy had brought help along. Tize could feel her intuition, how she expected something like this to happen given her mechanical background, and picked the perfect person to assist her. Though unfortunately, Tize couldn’t unsync with Itsy to help Dice with his power since that would just put them in danger. But the boy had been practicing hard, and he could tackle it on his own.
Itsy zoomed around the anti-air gun in a circle, wiping out any soldiers that got too close while also staying mobile so their enemies couldn’t get any line of sight on Dice. The boy clearly struggled to focus, getting dizzy from spinning around so much, but he persevered. “Got it!” he yelled briefly. And the next moment, the turret sliced apart into hundreds of pieces all collapsing to the ground. The operator who was inside was untouched, but absurdly confused by what had just transpired.
That soldier probably got away lucky compared to everyone else in the wrecking ball’s path. The Fiends didn’t bother dealing with them further and zoomed on to the next gun, tearing through soldiers on their way. With each subsequent piece of artillery destroyed, Dicatta’s slicing got that much quicker. By the time they reached the last one, Itsy barely had to do a full revolution before it was chopped to bits.
With their mission complete, Itsy zoomed back to the trenches. They’d made such good time on their escapade, and due to the efforts of the rest of their group, that none of the armies had even gotten close to that side of the battlefield yet. Itsy parked next to her truck and unsynced with Tize after Dice hopped off her back.
“Whewf, that was fun, but it sure cramps my legs real good,” the giantess did a few stretches, not seemingly worried about the war going on around her. “I’ll let someone else have a turn with you, Tize buddy. Got my truck right here so that’s all I’ll need.” But instead of hopping in like one would expect, she instead hoisted it right off the ground and up above her head. While no longer a wrecking ball herself, she still had one ready to go and charged back into the fray.
Meanwhile, Dice set his sights on some of the enemy artillery, particularly the tanks that were closest on the front lines. Tize could hear him muttering calculations, and didn’t want to disturb the boy. Since they weren’t an immediately treacherous issue, he chose to leave the Fiend to pursue the fight on his own.
Instead, Tize focused on his earpiece. An additional bonus of having his blood mixed in with their technology was that it let the man check-in on all those who were wearing them. It was something he actively had to focus on, though, so it didn’t work well as an emergency monitor, but it did give him an idea of who would need his help the most at any given time.
The man did a scan of the anxiety and frustration of his fellow members to narrow down who was having the most trouble at present. He landed on Egawo who was only a few trenches away. A quick shift back into light and he was soon grasped in her hand, transformed into a conductor's baton. 『Synchronization Rate: 28%』
【What can I help you with, Egawo?】 Since she was on the lower end of the sync scale, he couldn’t read her mind or intentions as clearly as others.
It’s this damn thing! She nearly threw the device out of her hands. Can’t get it to land on a single frequency! The woman had a scanner disguised as a media player. It was used to pick up frequencies and pitches. There’s too much noise from the different devices and groups, and it’s all interfering with each other.
【Trying to disrupt their comms then?】 He asked and got back nonverbal confirmation. 【Alright, you just focus on what you want to do. I’ll take care of the targeting.】
Egawo poked her head out of the trench, and Tize took control of her hand, swishing the baton in the direction of the closest band of soldiers. Their helmets all suddenly sparked right around their ears as she blasted noise directly into their comms. Several of them collapsed to the ground unconscious. Those that hadn’t, desperately tried to rip off their helmets, blood pouring out of their ears.
The Fiend then waved the baton over at the next group who had simpler earpieces and radios on their hips. They all exploded, killing a few outright, but mostly causing major damage to the ears and severe burns to their legs.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Wow, I almost feel like a witch using sound magic, the woman imagined with child-like glee as she waved the baton around like a wand, causing chaos across the battlefield. After enough platoons had been silenced, a message broadcast across the entire area. “All soldiers, our comms are being attacked. Remove them at once!”
The directive didn’t seem to be for any nation’s army in particular, but a warning to everyone who could hear it. But the less who heard it, the better. Tize managed to isolate the source of the noise, and with a swish and a flick, Egawo took control of the broadcasting equipment and erupted a massive wave of screeching noise over the crowd.
It sent every soldier in front of it reeling, and the operator was blasted backwards when the equipment detonated. A surge of endorphins flooded into Tize’s mind as he could feel his host’s pure elation at what she’d been capable of. Given that, it was probably time for her to cool her head a bit.
【That should have cleared out a lot of the noise for you. I’m heading on,】 he informed Egawo suddenly and dissolved out of her hand. The man paused for a moment to take stock of his comrades, but before he could decide his next course of action, he found himself called upon.
“Tize, we’ve got some monster tamers!” Gatrim informed him. “Looks like they’re about to unleash a herd of Rhinobeests. Can you sync up with Kaizu and I?”
The man flew over to them right away, practically on the other side of the battlefield. Mid-flight, the light particles twinkled apart into two distinct groups that flew to each Lesser. Gatrim and Kaizu both held up their hands expectantly, and the orange light coiled around their wrists, flashing into a swirling gold and black chain that tethered them together.
『Dual Synchronization: Unbreakable Bond』 This was a new type of synchronization that Tize had just recently discovered. It allowed the two hosts to share a bit of their own powers and abilities with each other, morphing into something new. But… it could only be achieved if the two users themselves were compatible with each other and had nothing to do with Tize’s own disposition.
And the process was extremely selective. Since it was still a new concept, they hadn’t found many compatible pairs, only two so far including Gatrim and Kaizu—though they were far from testing all possibilities. Though it couldn’t happen, sadly, but Tize liked to believe that he and Nachi would qualify.
The other compatible pair was Roque and Chorus, and their Dual Sync was called ‘Implicit Trust’. Their powers combined into a special, unbreakable contract—the terms of which were unfathomably cruel and manipulative. If a person signed it, their life was virtually forfeit. From Roque’s side, the contract allowed them to take every single one of that person’s belongings, even if the proof of ownership was just an established belief.
And from Chorus’ side, it let them take possession of everything relating to that person’s perception. This includes the person’s image, likeness, use of their name, anything they’ve ever said or written, along with anything they’d ever create in the future. In essence, signing that contract was signing away their very soul.
However, the signee still got something in return: whatever was promised by Chorus and Roque. And if they couldn’t deliver by the timeframe or to the level of satisfaction specified by the contract, then it would be broken, and anything taken would be returned, along with appropriate compensation from both Chorus and Roque, whatever that meant by the terms laid out.
Most people would probably find it surprising that someone had already volunteered to sign that contract. It was Drim. First, he had them alter it so that the pair of them could only take possession of his belongings or likeness after his death, but when that occurred, they could have or use whatever they wanted. As for the condition, it was ‘You may never use this contract without my permission.’” It too would be nullified upon his death, but he also trusted the two of them to not do anything to speed that process along.
And speaking of Drim, virtually everyone believed that he and Phon would be capable of Dual Synchronization. However, it was Phon who had refused the idea, not even allowing them to test it. Tize’s best guess was that she was plagued by her own insecurities. Because how would she feel if they weren’t capable of the act? What would that say about the reality of their bond?
When it came to Gatrim and Kaizu, though, they were an obvious pair of candidates. Ever since their stint in prison, they’d become inseparable. And when fighting together, the two of them rivaled any Fiend.
Their combined power was much simpler than Roque and Chorus. It fused Gatrim’s speed with Kaizu’s stealth. While the raven-haired woman didn’t have any form of supernatural ability like her partner, she was still able to slink about in the shadows as if they were a part of her very being. And the Dual Sync made that a bit more literal.
After Tize bonded the two Lessers together, the two of them appeared to melt, dissolving into shadows on the ground. Their formless selves slipped across the battlefield like skating on ice, underneath all the soldiers and fighting that was taking place.
The pair of Lessers then suddenly popped out of the ground, both of them lunging their blades at the monster tamers. Their hope was to stop the soldiers before the monsters could be released, but they were just a hair too late. The ramp on the giant rolling cage slammed down to the ground at the very moment that those opening it were impaled through their chests.
It didn’t even take a second for the Rhinobeests to begin their stampede. Any unfortunate soldiers in front of the monsters were trampled without mercy. The tamers had made sure to aim them well enough too, pointing the rampaging beasts right at Bastion’s front gate. Or at least where it should have been if not for the wall of black vines.
While the monsters would likely struggle to make an impact against the plants, Rhinobeests were still mighty creatures, and their destructive power as a group couldn’t be understated. Entire villages were wiped off the map by roving Rhinobeest stampedes, so it was best to put them down as quickly as possible.
Gatrim and Kaizu dove back into the shadows and sped to the front of the pack. They reemerged and targeted the two beasts at the ends of the frontline of monsters. Both of them stabbed their respective beast, piercing through a link in their bonding chain—not wanting to risk their arms for what was to come.
The two monsters collapsed to the ground instantly and the chain was pulled taught. One by one, the rest of the stampede flipped over it, crashing into one giant pile of angry, writhing flesh. The two lessers then got to work, slaying every single Rhinobeest while jumping in and out of the ground to avoid any unfriendly fire from soldiers watching them work.
When the last corpse started to rot, the pair slid away to the nearest trench before Tize unsynced from them. He then looked towards the sky, a great sense of frustration looming from the airship above.