The Vixen popped to her brother’s side, replacing Xard and sending him somewhere else critical on the battlefield. But she didn’t have a moment to catch up with Drim, or check in how the fight was going, and had to rudely show her back to him. Because she had to immediately get to work, pulling up both of her shields without a moment to spare, blocking the barrage of incoming stone shrapnel that threatened to rip them to shreds.
Defending against the initial volley was simple enough, but Rathe never stopped shooting from her hands that she’d turned into automatic, literal firearms. The bulky bullets began to swerve around the shields, course-correcting to reach their target. But Phon was watching it all, and took appropriate measures to counteract the adaptive ammunition.
She made micro-adjustments with her teleportation, rarely moving more than an inch or two at a time. But it was faster than sliding her feet, and allowed her body as much time as possible to make the needed movements with her shield. Phonscience was working overtime ensuring that each movement is perfect, while Phontext was studying their rival demigod’s every action.
It was one of the few times during the fight that Phontext was actually able to be useful, so she aimed to prove herself. Even now, with Thorn’s blessing that allowed their Curses to affect the one who granted them in the first place, digging up anything useful about Rathe had proved to be a pointless effort. There was both too much to dig through since she’d lived an incalculably long time, but also too little to find, since most of her life in at least the second version of the world had been almost entirely in isolation.
However, at the very least, Phontext could query about Rathe’s actions, so she knew what the demigod was physically doing at all times. This extended to the shards she was currently shooting, since they were an extension of the demigod herself using her power. The brain-worker could deduce exactly where every single projectile intended to fly. Though it was a lot of information to sort through and relay, she had nothing better to do, so she’d do it to the best of her ability.
And Rathe certainly wasn’t making it easy. To add to her firing line from a single angle, more minions spawned all around them with the same turret armaments—some on the floor, some on the ceiling, some within kicking distance which Phon did indeed kick just to make them stumble back a bit farther.
Since Phon only had the two hands, it meant she’d eventually be overwhelmed and unable to keep her brother safe. But that was something she couldn’t allow, and fortunately, she had more than two shields. Whenever The Vixen had a moment to spare, she pulled out an extra yo-yo, enlarged it, and left it floating in place as a permanent barrier.
And as the woman flitted about, placing shields, she eventually made a near complete dome with only small non-overlapped slits that required additional monitoring. At some point she was also compelled to call out, “Adamant Protection!” as her cry of determination to keep safe the one she cherished more than anything.
Then while Phon held up the defense, Drim used the opportunity to counterattack and work to get them out of their present situation. He fired arrows out of the small openings and weaved them through the air himself, sniping the extra minions that were firing upon them and reducing the amount of space that needed to be protected. And when he had the occasional opening, a few of the arrows found their way into Rathe’s main body, causing a few grunts
And during one particular bout of pain and diversion where the demigod was starting to look like a pin cushion and couldn’t focus on her attacks, Phon took the advantage and teleported right in front of her. With yo-yos flung to either side, the rocky turret hands were severed off the stone body and then crashed to the ground.
This caused Rathe to abandon her current form again, respawning even further away but with no affixed weapons this time. Instead, she raised her hands towards the ceiling. “Try blocking these!” Giant spikes formed that were closer in size to massive pillars. At that scale and with enough force behind them, it was indeed quite possible that Phon’s shields wouldn’t hold up.
And noticeably, each spike was a different color. Rathe had clearly been studying up on them as well, and obviously expected them to call upon Kada for salvation, so she’d formed each rocky missile with a different mineral composition, meaning each would have to be touched individually, an unlikely feat. It also meant Drim had guessed correctly, and the earlier shards, though too small to notice, likely were crafted in the same manner, meaning if he had called on The Mermaid for defense, he’d be presently full of holes.
But frankly, this situation was far easier to solve. In her haste, Rathe had forgotten about everyone she was facing. Perhaps she no longer found them important enough to consider, and that would be her downfall. ❝Dice!❞
“Endless Cuts!” The Slicer called out from elsewhere, also not needing to make an appearance to use his ability effectively. Every spike was cut into countless cubes that crumbled towards the ground. But that wasn’t the end of it. Rathe stubbornly stuck to the same course of action and spawned more spikes, hoping to eventually outpace Dice’s ability to destroy them, but it was all for naught.
“Fine, fine!” the demigod eventually gave up. “Try destroying this, Dice! You’ll regret it if you do!” A sphere appeared in the woman’s hands that she then let fly out away from her towards the still-shielded siblings. The rocky ball was constantly in motion, the outer shell constantly shifting and moving around, and the whole thing was bulging and pulsating like it was going to erupt.
Drim aimed an arrow and Phon adjusted her shield barrier to block any ensuing explosion. But the man still hesitated, entirely unsure what the detonation radius would be and how far shrapnel would fly. They’d have to figure something else out if there was a chance it could hit their comrades.
“Babuu!” “Garuu!” But then unlikely help came flying their way. Drimini swooped down towards the sphere holding Pox in her vines. And the Koala Fox opened his mouth wide, swallowing the writhing rock whole as they continued along their way.
“Ah, the spy that betrayed me,” Rathe’s eyes wandered to the flying duo, but she didn’t actually make any effort to stop them or shoot them down. Rather, she actually offered them a treat. “If you enjoy them so much, then eat your fill!”
Suddenly ,about half of the minions around the room stopped moving. They began to crumble away on their own, each leaving only a small clump of rock behind. And like the sphere before, they all began to shake and pulsate, each turned into their own little weapon. It seemed that they wouldn’t explode right away, having to build up energy.
One, however, fired off prematurely, and several heads turned to the winces of anguish as Kada desperately tended to her now-injured hand. She had obviously tried to melt one and triggered the explosion. But the damage hadn’t been too bad, perhaps because it was detonated early, and would only get worse the longer they had time to build their strength.
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That accident did confirm a few things, though. The rocks were basically bombs or grenades to start with, and second, they essentially worked the same as Xard’s Curse. Energy was stored within the rocks, building power until they popped. And if they were destroyed before that point, any already charged energy would be released.
❝Rishaki!❞ Drim called out for an unusual choice. But to him, she was the obvious answer to come out of their current crisis unscathed.
“Ehk, alright, alright,” The Peddler found herself unable to refuse his request. She placed her chest and flipped open the lid, waving her arms as if to direct everyone while she yelled, “Dumping Ground! Wait, why did I say that? Definitely do not treat my chest like a dumping ground. This is for bombs and bombs only. Anything else placed inside will be charged an hourly storage fee!”
Then those who could manage to step away from the fight for a moment, now that the forces had been reduced, formed a collaborative effort to gather up the explosives and safely dispose of them. Kada, now that her hand had been patched up, melted much of the floor, making several small flowing streams that led right into the waiting Box.
And Mallea, after sweeping up a decent pile of her own, returned Ahvra’s broom to its owner since she could now make good use of it. The Witch flailed her weapon wildly, creating gusts towards the chest. Then she built up the flow, picking up several of the explosives off the ground, then adjusted the wind as needed so that they were plonked nicely. And the usually unemotional woman even cheered for herself when they all landed, as if she’d scored a goal.
Quite a few other tactics were tried to get rid of the nuisances and end their present predicament as swiftly as possible. Most, however, found their feet the most reliable, and zoomed around the room as swiftly as they could, grabbing bombs off the floor by the armful before depositing them and going back for more.
When the cleaning effort began in earnest, Drim nodded towards his sister, giving her clearance to end her defense and join others where her skills would be better suited. The Slayer then charged back at Rathe, resuming their duel as a diversion so that she couldn’t try anything else. And on the way, he sent a few vines around, helping pick up and dispose of the primed rocks like they were litter to be thrown in the trash.
When they clashed this time, Thorn couldn’t help but notice that his counterpart had slowed. Maybe not noticeably to anyone but him and Rusa, but her hits now felt sluggish and were lacking the weight of her previous attacks. The Fiends efforts were working after all, and Rathe was weakening. Though it would likely still be some time before they could definitively defeat her.
The matter of the bombs, though, quickly came to a conclusion. Right as they looked seconds from exploding, the last few rock-shelled charges were deposited into the open chest. Gatrim dashed towards the ornate storage box and slammed the lid shut, sealing all the explosives inside of it, trapping them in time until they were removed at a later date. But Rishaki, like Rathe, was never good at patience. And she wouldn’t tolerate such junk being in her possession for a moment longer than necessary.
The demigod was surprised when Drim suddenly used his vines to pull himself back again, abandoning their fight. But he was just getting himself to safety. “Hey, I refuse these gifts,” The Peddler had snuck her way around to Rathe’s backside during the kerfuffle. “Take them back!”
She chucked a small mechanical chest at Rathe’s feet and then pressed a button on a remote control that made the lid flip open on its own. It was one of many that had been developed by Nathym that would sync with Rishaki’s Curse. Normally, the glorified hoarder needed to be at one of her chests herself to summon an item, but these special boxes allowed her to expunge anything remotely, and she placed them all around the world to sell items from the comfort of home, greatly expanding her business.
Every bomb that had been placed in Rishaki’s care was suddenly dumped out at once into a giant pile. Rathe herself looked ready to run or abandon her body again, but her actual opponent was too quick on the draw, having already launched an arrow that pierced into one of the rumbling rocks. It caused a chain explosion, detonating all the bombs in a single blast. And Rathe was forced to endure it all without the opportunity to make an escape.
Drim watched the destruction closely, readying himself to follow up and strike her where it hurt. But the area was too shrouded in dust for him to make out anything clearly, so all he could do for the moment was hold his ground and wait. Though since he was so focused on what was ahead, he barely caught on to what was happening behind.
Out of the corner of his eye, just in the knick of time, he caught an entire hoard of Rathe spawn charging at his back. ❝Ja-!❞
“Loyal Knight!” The Fiendish King didn’t even get a chance to finish saying her name before The Paladin had come sprinting to his aid. In barely a blink, an entire wall of Jaid clones was behind him, clashing with the stone soldiers, keeping him safe. “I’ve got your back!” his own dedicated servant assured him as she pushed away the enemy, exposing the hoard to attacks from the others, allowing her king to refocus his attention on their main problem.
But Drim didn’t anticipate what his opponent would do next. Rathe started laughing. It wasn’t particularly maniacal as Hower’s had been, nor was it one of amusement like he’d heard before. The laugh seemed to be more along the lines of self-loathing. “It pains me, but I can admit when I was wrong.”
“Your friends do have value. They empower you, make you capable of ideas and tactics that you wouldn’t even conceive of on your own. It just goes to show how inexperienced you are. When you grow into a proper demigod, you’ll be able to do all they can and more without having to rely on anyone else. So let’s see how weak you really are without them!”
Drim couldn’t delay any longer. He had to stop whatever she was plotting before she could harm any of his friends. The Slayer dashed forward, blades at the ready, planning to slash into the still-obfuscated cloud of dust at its core, hoping he’d hit whatever charred corpse of Rathe’s current form remained.
But as he moved, he was caught unaware by what was happening in his peripherals. Stone walls were suddenly closing all around him, and he lost sight of any of the others. But the path forward, the path towards his enemy remained open, so he pressed ahead. Though by the time he made it to her, his brain was already too distracted by the possibilities he couldn’t see. And it left him vulnerable.
Rathe lunged at him from the dust, colliding with him during his stride. And she didn’t swipe at him, nor try to meet his blades. No, she went for his sides, grabbed his waist with her hands, and squeezed tight. Then just like that, he was caught with nowhere to run.
“Ahaha, that was too easy!” Her laugh went from self-loathing to outright mockery. Before her son could make any attempt to escape, the woman dug her claws into him. “You’re such a simple creature after all. Should have thought more about your own predicament than all the others.”
“But don’t worry, you won’t need to think about them for long. My walls are closing around them and will crush them all shortly! And I made sure to isolate your sister, trapping her alone so that she can’t teleport herself or anyone else thanks to my presence! Or I suppose you fools would call it aura.”
“Now that we’re all alone, your re-education can begin! I may not be able to kill you, but there are so many ways to make you comply!” Rathe’s claws grew, digging into the man’s flesh and worming their way around inside of Drim’s body. It was torture method that he himself had used with his vines, only against the most heinous of criminals. He couldn’t say it wasn’t ironic, but it sure did hurt like zjik.
The Fiendish King couldn’t help but scream and cry out and pain, tears streaking down his face as he squirmed in utter absolute anguish like he’d never known before. If it wasn’t for the law of the universe bestowed on Rathe that forcefully kept him alive, he had no doubt that he’d be long dead already. What was only a moment in time felt like an eternity of torment. Yet through it all, he managed to eke out a single name.
❝Kada!❞