“I always knew you were a mawhger, Tize,” Jaid finally pulled her hand away from her bleeding face now that it had started to heal, the armored palm coated in blue. “But fine then. You always said you wanted to fight me, and I guess there’s no more running from it. So let’s start. I hope I don’t disappoint you!”
Jaid sent a line of clones his way, the final one cleaving her sword at him with all her strength. Tize, of course, got his shield down in time, but the force sent him sliding backwards. But he used that moment to aim, firing his gun at the closest clone's face. That Jaid’s eyes widened in surprise, and she forcefully unsummoned herself, as did the following few out of pure caution.
The knight ended up recalling that line entirely, and instead sent out two more, trying to pincer Tize from either side. He swapped his gun into an assault rifle and fired at one of the lines as they charged towards him, halting them in their tracks as they were forced to defend with their swords.
And when the second line closed on him, Tize slammed his shield and leaned into it this time, not letting himself be pushed around again. But when that clone’s attacks failed, several new Jaid’s sprouted from her, and they surrounded Tize like a closing claw. He spun his shield to block a few of the new ones and fired wildly at the rest. They were made to withdraw again before they could connect their swings.
But Jaid tried this tactic one final time, sending out ten lines of clones. Five attacked across the ground, one heading dead on, the rest swinging around from wide angles. And the other five lines stretched across the air, attacking from above. Thankfully, the lower half of her body was entirely protected, or the tactic would have been a liability from the start.
Each line closed in on Tize, like death’s hand finally come calling. There was no way he could block them all. He managed to hold off a few, however, firing in their direction to slow their pursuit as they defended, but that just gave opportunity for the rest to gain ground. So finally he gave up attacking with his gun entirely and instead slammed his shield in front of him.
It could only protect him from one side. Or that had been the case for a long time, until he asked Nathym for some modifications. The man shouted at the top of his lungs, “Bulwark!” His shield started to glow around the usually invisible edges, and the gleam surrounded him, stretching the shield to all sides until it encompassed him entirely.
Jaid’s attacks rebounded off the invincible barrier from all sides. He was completely protected. Inspired by Chorus’ wardrobe, the Bulwark shield adapted to Tize’s location and current posture. It wouldn’t protect anyone else, unless they were clinging to him from the start, but it kept him safe from any attack, from any side or angle, even beneath his feet.
“How annoying,” the original Jaid spat after her clones bashed at the shield for a while longer. However, there was a glimmer of hope. When they attacked, the shield blinked ever so slightly. The knight had to assume that it was the shield's durability being strained. Maybe if she applied enough pressure, she could break through.
The Paladin recalled all of her clones and then summoned a line out of her back, bringing her to the arena’s edge. More clones then sprouted to either side, circling around the entire stage until she’d made a full perimeter. Every Jaid then swapped their swords to railguns and opened fire.
As expected, the shield blocked it all, but the blink lasted just a hair longer. It seemed her tactic would pay off, as long as she didn’t exhaust herself to death first. But there was still a problem, as Tize started aiming his gun again from inside his shield. There was a slight cooldown between significant blasts of her railgun, so she needed a distraction.
Jaid sent dozens more lines of clones towards the shielded man. They all began wailing on his barrier, attacking sporadically and randomly so he couldn’t predict their movements. That was until the circle of railguns had all recharged, and then those clones suddenly hit the deck. Another volley of lightning blasted against the shield, this time causing it to blink twice.
The grounded clones sprouted back up immediately, back to their pummeling. Unfortunately, the shield was strong enough to keep the man firmly rooted, or else Jaid would try to push him off the edge. It would be an unceremonious end, but unlike Tize, honor in this fight meant nothing to her.
Jaid pushed herself to her limits, firing volley after volley into the shield, never letting her clones rest for even a second. And she finally got results. The Bulwark Shield started to blink repeatedly, signaling the end of its life. But Tize didn’t seem scared or even anxious. He holstered his gun and smiled.
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“I’m so proud of you, Jaid,” the man spouted words she’d never expected to hear in her life. “When you first came to us, you were stubbornly hesitant about using your Curse. But look at you now. You’ve become a master with not a hint of reservation. And out of respect, I shall do the same.”
With one final blast, the shield shattered into millions of twinkling particles of light. The clones on the ground jumped up, slashing at the defenseless man. But just as the armory’s worth of metal was about to tear into his flesh, he dissolved into light.
The dots twinkled around aimlessly for a moment, but then they found their target: the original Jaid amongst the vast ocean of clones. As soon as the first trickle of light touched her face, her Curse was forcefully deactivated, and every clone vanished at once. It had nothing to do with the intention of either fighter, but rather an unknown rule of Tize’s Curse. The host had to be in their base form to synchronize, and the system involved would force it to happen.
However, there was another strange occurrence with this synchronization. Normally, the armor only appeared once all of Tize had latched onto the host. But instead, likely due to Jaid’s immediate resistance to the process, the remaining light all solidified into metallic shards of orange and gray.
『Synchronization Incomplete. All pieces must attach. Please, remain still.』 The distorted, lifeless voice rang into Jaid’s head, but there was no way she was going to comply. She tried tugging at the single shard that had already latched onto her cheek, but all it did was hurt when she tugged.
And then the rest of the shards came for her, swarming at her like pissed off Horwasps. She swung her sword at those closest, but they didn’t budge—instead sparking against her sword as they slid past it and latched onto her body. The Knight then fired sparks at the next batch, but that also proved fruitless.
Jaid dropped her sword, the tip sinking into the arena. It wouldn’t help her anymore against this enemy, so it was best to just get rid of it. Now with both hands, she clawed at the pieces of metal that had fused to the chest of her tunic, trying desperately to rip them off—to little success.
More pieces of the sentient armor swarmed around her, attacking her from all sides. No matter what she tried, the invulnerable armor wouldn’t let go. She had already seen Itsy manage to pull them off of herself, to great pain and injury. Would Jaid have to go through the same torment? Would she even be strong enough to do it?
One at a time, the remaining pieces fused to her once they could get close enough. They were avoiding her legs and arms since they were already covered in armor, but no part of the rest of her body was safe. Her torso had been their primary target up until now, but the metal started clinging to her exposed neck and face.
That was even more terrifying, the unwelcomed armor taking every inch of her body. And it was at this point that she started to rise. The armor was lifting her off of her feet and into the air. Jaid flailed wildly at first, terrified that she was going to fall, but the aggressive outfit was keeping her stable.
『Divine Relic detected. Dormant power available for reactivation. Incorporating. New synchronization available.』
【The hell is that?】 Tize’s voice now invaded Jaid’s mind. But he seemed just as confused. 【Fine, Activate.】
『Fusion altered. New Synchronization Chosen. From the hands of Cosmos, accept this gift of flight—Armor of the Herald』
Jaid had absolutely no idea what the zjik was happening, but she struggled to the last moment. With each new piece of armor attached, she lost more control over her own body. Finally, the last shard flew at her from dead-ahead, straight at her face. The metal covered her eyes, and with it, her vision faded and all sound around her stopped.
She could no longer hear the cheering and gasping crowd. Rallie and the commentators had gone silent. For a moment, there was nothing, but then the systematic, distorted voice chirped one final time in her ears. 『Synchronization Rate: 96%』
The world lit up around her, and she could see again. But it wasn’t through her normal vision. No, it was as if she was looking at the world through a series of screens. It seemed familiar to the rumors she’d heard of how Phon’s teleportation Curse worked when she viewed the outside world.
Jaid tilted her head downward toward the arena below. She really was flying. There was still some feeling in her arms and legs, so she tried to move them, but the parasitic armor continued to wrench control away from her.
【Your wish…】The voice of her foe rang directly into her head—privately, through their now-shared mental connection. It felt like quite the invasion of privacy, especially since her thoughts were being read directly. Word for word, the soldier recited back to her the wish she’d say upon her victory.
【Now that I know your wish, I can’t let you win. No matter the cost.】Tize’s voice vanished, and the distorted system returned, announcing for all to hear, 『Self-Destruction Sequence Initiated. 10, 9, 8…』