6/22

Washington D.C.

4:20 AM

Stone Stag. Tier 5. Fast, strong, tough. They can also break off bits of their antlers and throw them at you. Their antlers regrow in seconds. They're centaurs. Why? Because something something horses, Revolutionary War, soldiers, yadda yadda. Look, sometimes there's not a deeper meaning to these creatures. Sometimes they're just here to kill you.

Possible loot: antlers, peanuts, commemorative pint glasses.

We get into the Washington monument circle and there's this brief few seconds before the fight starts. The monsters know we're here. We're ready to fight them. But each side just stares at the other, waiting for a signal. Most of the stags are around 12 feet tall, but there's a big one that's a massive 20 feet tall. He steps forward, his troops lining up behind him. He snorts and tries to stare me down.

Thormentus, Stone Stag Lord. Tier 6. No help on this one, you're on your own.

Possible loot: Helm of the Stone Stag Lord, peanuts, scrolls.

I step forward with Atmos Mind and Void Mind still active. I already have a plan. The stag lord stomps a hoof. I create five storm fists and five void blades, long, wide daggers this time. My pink storm energy cloak is layered over a long jacket of purple void.

“Let's go,” I say with confidence.

The stags charge only to be met with void energy traps. Lines of void spread out in front of me like a spider's web. Several stags get pierced by void and topple, but the one that escapes the trap is only wounded. They attempt to regroup and charge around to my side, but my team is already opening fire. Jose's lightning streaks across the green, grassy field. Quins fires arrows that split into other arrows, which then explode over a dozen stag centaurs. Rutger flings a fireball to the left as three stags try to escape my Void Rifts. The fireball explodes and the three are engulfed in flames.

The big guy barks out in a gravelly voice. “COWARD.” He backs up, then charges forward, leaping over my Void Rifts.

“Dumbass,” is all I say.

Madeline swings her Chlamydia in a wide sweep and the blade cuts along the stag's side. The pale white, hairless flesh rips open and bright red blood slides out the tear. Then a split second later the cut bursts into flames. The stag lord reaches out for her as she starts another swing. He grabs her elbow and gets rapidly punched in the face five times by storm fists, followed by five void blades slashing away at the arm grabbing Madeline. I open three more Void Rifts right below the monster and void beams lance its underside. He jumps to his right, which gives Madeline an even better position to slash from.

I hear the stomp of hooves to my right and turn to see six centaurs charging Jose and Quins. Mercy flies between the two snipers, mecha beam spear in hand. She thrusts into the first, nearly severing it at the torso. She turns her mini chaingun on the others, halting their advance enough to give Jose and Quins enough time to charge and fire more devastating attacks.

To the left, Rutger is facing down three already scorched stags, wielding a whip of emerald lightning. I toss a couple void blades into the stag nearest to them, just to push them back. I notice that my Void Blades are leaving pulsing purple motes behind. This must be the Entropy effect finally kicking in. The purple motes float around the point of the wound. I strike there again and this time a small explosion of void energy cuts a hole in the monster's side, enough to bring it to its knees. Entropy makes enemies explode when you hit them. Awesome when it actually comes into play.

Madeline's sword flashes, leaving a dazzling trail of flames in the air as she tries over and over again to get past the stag's rapid parries. The big guy has antlers coming out of his forearms like rows of spikes, giving him every opportunity to catch and block her sword. Despite that, she's holding her ground and even pushing him back. He's being pushed back into my field of Void Rifts.

And that's when I come to two realizations.

1. My team is fucking badass.

2. None of these assholes are dead yet. In fact, their wounds are healing up faster than we can deal them out.

I call out to the team. “Step up the pace! Focus fire till you kill one! They're healing fast! Rutger, to me!”

Rutger lashes at the three coming after them and then tries to run to me, but they're just going to be run down by the much faster stags. I leap back towards them, past them, and into melee with the centaurs. One slashes out with forearm antlers and I catch the attack with a void blade. Stag number two comes in from my left and stabs low. I parry that attack too, but I leave myself open to the third monster. It's arm spikes punch into my back, but my Toughness saves me from being speared through. It's only in maybe half an inch so I roll forward, leaving a bloodied spike behind. I pop up on my feet and just punch.

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My fist slams into the left flank of horsey number one, followed by five more storm fists. I turn and backhand horse number two, delivering the same 1+5 punch to it. Both times I hear not the crunchy shattering of bone but the deeper snap of stone.

“Duck!” I hear Rutger call out, and I dive down just in time as a colossal hammer of ice slams into number one, smashing it away and into number two, and both tumble and fall over. Number three rears back and is about to stab Rutger when an arrow sticks in the back of his head, which then explodes. The monster drops.

I cast Storm Cell on both downed stags and they become encased in pink clouds that crackle with lightning. I hear a pelting of piercing rain from inside. The rapid, low damage attacks probably won't hurt the tough and fast regenerating monsters, but that's besides the point. Rutger is taking the few seconds of free time to supercharge a couple of spells. Knowing that they've got it from here I turn away.

Mercy's laser spear hums as it spins through the air. She's whipping it around while surrounded by four stags. The stags weave in and out, dodging her attacks but not being able to land their own. Jose's in the air with Draconic Flight, taking him out of melee range. He looks injured but that dude doesn't complain. I dash over in that direction and send a storm hand to do Restoration Palm on him. Quins fires two arrows that get deflected by antlers, which sounds bad, but then the arrows explode in a green gas and the targeted stag wobbles and slows. Slows long enough for Jose to get a bead on it and blow its damn head off.

I search about the battlefield. There are a couple dozen stags missing. That's probably bad. As I think that, two dozen Stone Stags burst up from under the ground, throwing dirt and sod. Well fuck.

6th Step, Astral Pathbreaker, Star Swarm!

Stars spin around me and I immediately lay into two nearby stags. My punches, surrounded by stars, just rip right through them. I punch the torso off one and the back legs off another. I spin and see four making for Rutger. I point my hand at them and the stars fire off like bullets, ripping baseball-sized holes right through the stags. I see Rutger charge up another deadly spell and I have to keep moving. Five stags are headed to back up the Stag Lord, who looks like he and Madeline have been fiercely trading blows. I pull my stars back to me and charge towards the group. Stars spin around my right hand and in front of it, like a lance. No, more like a drill. I catch up to the first horseman and my star drill punches right through its legs, dropping it to the ground. The second victim gets a large hole through their side and they drop. I leap to my left and drill down, into and through the stag's head, neck and chest. It's a bloody mess. The fourth horseman rips into me with antlers, but I ignore the wound and counter with a drill strike that separates the horse from the man. One to go. 15 seconds of Star Swarm used. 75 Arcana Points and Ki Points used. I can keep this up for another 30 seconds.

I punch forward from where I am and throw the entire star drill at the remaining stag. It attempts to block the drill with its arm antlers, but they only delay the inevitable. The drill hits the antlers. The antlers crack, then crumble over one second. The stag dies to drilling and I pull the stars back. 27 seconds left.

I rush back to Rutger's side, forming stars into an eight foot long sword as I run. I slash left, then right, and take out two stags. I leap away while throwing storm punches and void daggers at the remaining stag there. I rush to Mercy's side with a burst of speed. I bring the star sword down in an overhead chop, splitting a centaur in two. Before he even falls apart I'm on another one, thrusting the sword through its belly, twisting the blade, then pulling it out in an angle. The massive hole in the beast's chest explodes with blood and the creature falls. 20 seconds left.

My star sword flashes left, right, left, taking down two more stags. My massive blade is almost a foot thick and each slash is almost immediately fatal. I throw the sword at another stag, cutting its top half off, while I run back to where Madeline is struggling to fight off the boss and three more stags. I am at the back end of their small group and throw storm punches and void daggers forward as my stars return to me. The stars reach my back and begin to spin, their energy giving me a burst of speed. I reach the boss stag as he's coming in to give Madeline a deadly hug. 15 seconds left.

Flying up to meet him, my fist slams into the stag lord's face and his jaw shatters, mouth going slack. I pull all my stars into a hand-sized ball, then shove the ball down the monster's throat. I release the stars and they rip through his body to return to me. Madeline cuts into another stag's arm and chops it off. I push my stars forward and impact one of the remaining three stags like a particularly powerful shotgun blast. The monster's chest collapses and then explodes in blood, and I push the stars further and they rip through its back, leaving the stag looking like a chain link fence. I pull the stars back, then leap up and forward at the second to last stag. I spin the stars around my left leg to deliver a flying, Kamen Rider-esqe kick. The monster simply explodes from the force. 5 seconds left.

I turn in time to see Madeline chop off the stag's other arm, then slice off the top half of its head.

I look around. All the stags are dead and accounted for. With 3 seconds of power left, I let my stars fade.

I want more. I want to rip and tear more monsters. I want to keep fighting. Adrenaline is shooting through my veins and I need to fight. I look north towards the White House and see the shapes of monsters.

“Jun!” I hear Mercy's voice. It's like she knows she has to pull me back down. “Time to heal people.” She's standing over Quins and Jose who are both bleeding. Madeline is pretty beaten and has a few stab wounds and cuts. Biscuits, who'd been hiding back by the reflecting pool, runs over to Rutger, who looks like they actually got stabbed pretty badly. Then I remember that I got stabbed too.

I turn to do the boring, but important, after care. Sigh.

“Biscuits, don't eat that!” I hear Mercy yell.