Chapter sixty

“Aaaaaaagaa – oof!” Max screamed as his legs were knocked out from underneath him, sending him face-first onto the floor. That was with only four of Ambrosias' birds sending softened [Wind Blades] at the man.

“Don’t you feel like you're in danger yet?” Harmony called out.

They'd been at this for half an hour. Max’s lip was split and one nostril leaked blood after that fall.

“Not yet. I think it needs to be something that I can't defeat if I tried.”

The birds had at least softened him up. They didn't want to cripple Maxwell. “Okay, Adric, time to put real fear into him.”

Adric who’d been lounging off to the side flashed into action. So quick he was a blur as his fist slammed into Max’s gut, sending him tumbling across the room. It was almost like the man wanted to hit the newly evolved agent of chaos. Maybe Ambrosia wasn’t the only one who was pissed off about what happened. Harmony only told them she’d nearly died. Not that [Stride Before the Fall] leveled. How much trouble would they have gotten in if she’d told them about the queen and that bloody mess?

Max crawled to his feet. “I…”

Adric moved close and flung the man to the other side of the room. The bonded rider was faster with Bowe, but much of his skills focused on speed, which is one reason he was a pain to train with. Not that he ever chose to go this rough with Harmony.

Fear finally touched Max’s eyes as he got up again and Adric flashed away. That was when Harmony felt it, Max’s newest skill to summon her power. Ashed bones if it wasn’t familiar. The double vision didn’t help. It was good she’d gotten used to that.

Harmony stared at and through another version of her. Tall as Max, hair a glowing pink to match the singularly sworn, nails glowed as well, and Night thankfully came already equipped, but its bioluminescence was pink too. It was like [Stride Before the Fall] had been co-opted.

Harmony, of two minds again, triggered chronostasis in her new body. The increased perception let her see Adric, who was already trying to pull his latest punch in shock but stuck with his momentum keeping him crashing forward. More importantly, it let her do a self-diagnostic of this new body.

It was nice to now be big. Longer reach, and probably was stronger too. That aside, there was the inward analysis, every skill was there, while there was the size and crazy hair, no bits of chaos circled or changed anything. What was different was the oath, it was inverted in a way that she knew as obligated to try to protect Maxwell.

Oh dear, poor Adric, [Small Armor] activated and stopped her pets now fumbling but committed attack cold. There was also the feeling of existence. This wasn’t permanent. Stride had that same twist, but there was no choosing this body the way [Stride] made her do, but it wasn’t her in the same way.

Her confused and shocked pet looked lost. [High Kick] didn’t strike him but instead, she rested her foot on the prince's chest with her knee bent and pushed. The act sent him sprawling across the room, but he could take it. [Cold Touch] boosted by [Mana Rotation] spread frost along the floor in Adric’s direction. There was too much grit for this trick when they practiced on the training grounds rough dirt, but this private room was kept smooth and clear pridefully by the staff, so making it a little slicker mattered. With ice covering the path toward Max, he shouldn’t have an easy time getting traction for a follow-up attack. It spread out enough that Adric was having a hard time standing up.

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With her singerly sworn now mostly protected she turned her attention to Max, he was a bit beat up after all the abuse. [Mend] sealed his bloody lip and bleeding nose. [Renew Spirit] returned some energy to him. His eyes looked shocked at her presence, now that she could stare into them with a level gaze rather than looking up at everyone.

[Stride] was still an option in this form. Imagine four Harmonies. But that tricky oath that inverted told her doing that would put further strain on his modified skill that was only barely leveling a little bit from this experience.

“Don’t look so shocked. You are summoning some of my power.” Oh, it came with a deeper voice. A consequence of the size change?

Pulling a lock of hair down she lengthened it with [Manipulate Dead], the glowing pink did resist a color change.

“How?” Max croaked out.

“When you need protection, I’ll be there.” There wasn’t any real danger now. Harmony blew Ambrosia a kiss, and let this form fade away.

Is it okay to be envious of yourself? She checked herself for changes Max's skill hadn’t caused any disturbance internally or energy lost. That was a big worry when this started. Max’s skill wouldn’t hurt her. What if he used it while she was unconscious? That might be an experiment for another time.

“How are you feeling Max? Do you like your new skill?” Harmony asked, bringing him out of a bit of his own introspection.

“That drained a good bit of the chaos built up by [Chaos Seed]. What was that? I had no control over it. I couldn’t even stop it when I tried.”

Harmony poked his oath to her, causing her former knight to jerk up straight. “Think of how I would feel if you had a large doll of me you could fully control? Not that you’d be as bad as Tyler, but ew. You have to be satisfied with the limited ability brought to your fights.”

Facing a singularly sworn with this skill bound to someone actually powerful or maybe even a god-like being. That was a scary thought. The class couldn’t be that common.

“So, that was you?” Max asked.

“Kind of. But you don’t have to worry about the skill hurting me. Your oath of doing me no harm is clear.“ Not even [Keen Investigative Awareness] helped Harmony make sense of the new set of conflicting and wild emotions on Max’s face. That was his problem. “Now go get some rest. I’ve had a long day.”

Max took that as an order and gathered up his things. Ambrosia had more work to do on softening the edges of Max's new oath. Bates went to fetch the new staff to clean up the puddle forming by her use of [Cold Touch].

Adric walked over a little gingerly. “Did you have to kick me, Harm?”

“I had to test if my skills worked. I also needed to make sure Max was safe. Weird feeling having that compulsion. I don’t know how I would have reacted if you were trying to kill him and I was that way. The lady’s pet prince shouldn’t fight the lady’s agent of chaos.” She gave him a hug and a pat as an apology.

In her suite suite, the warm bath was divine. Ambrosia tossed off her uniform and joined in, the two girls sharing the relaxing water. “Being with you is wild, Harm. I don’t think I could write a song about that.”

“Don’t. Let Max keep his secrets. He can reveal or practice with the skill as he wants. Not like I need more of a headache if people asked why he’s summoning what looks like an overgrown version of me.” At least it wasn’t a shorter version of her. Bad enough that if it was her actual size some people might wonder why he produced a pink-haired child.

Instead of diving deeper into the conversation, they enjoyed the quiet and magically warmed waters together and processed the strange events of the day.