Bones stopped falling from the ceiling as the creature appeared to grow a third, stocky arm in its chest. It reached towards them with the palm of its hand exposed. Edgar’s [Animal Instincts] went wild.
“Move!”
He shouldered Mirai to the side as the arm exploded outward at them, the fingers splayed out to grab them. With their quick reaction, the attack just missed and the hand crashed into the wall. It fell to the floor in a pile of bones, which began rolling slowly back towards the Amalgamation.
“Any ideas?” Mirai shouted over her shoulder as they ran.
“Not yet. I need more time.”
As they ran around the circle, the Amalgamation tried to turn and face them, but its feet didn’t seem completely functional. Its right foot snapped at the ankle as it moved and the creature momentarily fell to a knee. However, another foot quickly appeared where the old one had been and it continued its lumbering steps. It was like the creature was stuck in a bog of its own material.
However, even if it didn’t appear damaged, its mobility seemed incredibly poor. Edgar and Mirai were already successfully circling around to the creature’s back.
“Should we go for it?” Edgar gestured at it.
“Let’s go for it. I’ll try to get an early mark on it.”
“Alright.”
Edgar reached for his skills. They were all keyed in and ready to go, responding to his emotions and excitement. [Overdrive] was burning hot, [Acrobatics] was quivering with energy, and [Tail Whip] was coiled like a spring. As he examined the skills, he noticed that he could feel some of his abilities thrumming passively in his core too. [One with Darkness] was awake buffing his movements and his [Animalistic Awareness] was ever watchful.
He tapped [Acrobatics] first, feeling the energy surge through his body as they charged. He glanced at Mirai, who had her glaive drawn—blade glowing with moonlight.
Edgar was ready to jump when his awareness activated, causing him to hesitate. Mirai noticed and shifted her stance.
Then, the Amalgamation’s torso pivoted and one of its green blades came at them. Again with Edgar’s quick reactions, they were saved from certain death as they bent and dodged the blow. The sound of Mirai’s glaive skimming along the bottom of the creature’s weapon left a beautiful resonance humming in the air. With [Acrobatics], Edgar pivoted his footing and activated [Leap].
The skill’s bubbly energy gathered at his feet and he launched into the air. He soared upwards, reaching a height just above the creature’s dragon skull. The sockets of its eyes flicked up at him as he brought his old friend into the fight, [Tail Whip]. It tried to raise its other arm in defense, but Edgar was faster and the club of his tail came down right on the crown of its head.
He heard the crunch of bone and a crack appeared in the skull. Clearly, the attack had done something. With the last bit of Acrobatics, he jumped off the creature's face and landed on the ground, dodging backwards out of reach. During his attack, he’d also opened up a window for Mirai to sneak in a blow, leaving a [Moon Mark] on the creature’s shoulder. The blue spot glowed in the dim light of the chamber, allowing Edgar to spot it even as the bone it was on shifted within the Amalgamation’s body, moving from its shoulder to its upper arm.
Mirai jumped to his side. “Good, it struggles with attacks from above and doesn’t seem able to move beyond the limits of the bone pile it spawned from.”
“Those blades make me nervous.”
“Mhmm. Definitely poisoned. Might inflict rot too, we’ve seen that.”
Edgar nodded, glancing at her. “It could basically one shot either of us. Something tells me I can’t eat bones.”
Mirai settled into her stance, glaive at the ready. “Let’s keep going. I’ll try to get another mark on it.”
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Edgar paused. “I think I’m starting to get an idea.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You are? What?”
“Let me know when your mark comes off cooldown and come running at me.”
She considered his vague proposal for a moment, but her skepticism slowly faded from her gaze. “Alright.”
“You trust me?” Edgar’s surprise was a bit more evident than he would have liked.
“Maybe a little.”
He blinked, but the Amalgamation roared, drawing all his attention as he realized it was sprouting another arm from its chest. With a quick glance and shared nod, Mirai sprinted off to one side and Edgar went to the other. just as the arm rocketed outwards, missing them both.
They quickly closed in on the creature and began taking advantage of whatever opportunities they could find to land hits on its shifting form. Its green, deadly blades sliced at them at tremendous speed, but the creature’s stiff movements telegraphed the attacks, giving them time to dodge or even deflect the blows. Edgar came to appreciate his new armor almost immediately, using the fused bone plates on his wrists to great effect against the incoming strikes.
As they found openings and struck back against the Amalgamation, bones would crack and break, but others would always fill the void. The creature’s body reformed quickly and constantly, making it impossible to tell if their attacks were actually hurting it. Edgar whipped out at its shins and other vulnerable spots, but, even if it stumbled, it always found its feet again shortly afterwards.
He was happy to see that Mirai’s new glaive hit a lot harder than her sword and was more than capable of damaging bone. It was clear she traded some of her agility for the increase in power, but against the Amalgamation, it was a perfect trade.
Edgar’s tail was as effective as ever against the skeleton and he snuck in blow after blow between the creature’s own strikes, using its clunky mobility against it as best he could.
“I’ve got another strike ready!” Mirai shouted, running towards Edgar.
He launched a flurry of strikes with his claws, baiting an attack from the Amalgamation that he easily dodged, and then rolled towards Mirai, landing on his back with his legs cocked above him.
“Get him right in the face!” He shouted.
He could see the lightning bolt in her mind as she saw his plan. “This better work!”
She jumped. It wasn’t perfect aiming, but it was close enough. Her feet connected with his and he put everything he had into launching her into the air. She soared upward, glaive glowing with moonlight. The creature tried and failed once again to raise its arm as her glaive came down on its forehead, leaving a glowing mark behind.
Edgar rolled to his feet and was right behind her, with [Acrobatics] and [Tail Whip] active. The patch of ethereal blue on the creature’s face made for an easy target and he landed a perfect hit on it. The crack split the full length of the skull.
The creature roared again, raising a hand to its skull as Edgar and Mirai landed. Edgar rolled to his feet and Mirai just rolled, dusting herself off unceremoniously at the end.
Edgar watched the creature stumble backward after the heavy blow, but it looked altogether too healthy for his liking, even with the split skull. Suddenly, it raised one of its blades and stabbed it into the center of the bone pile.
All at once, the creature’s body disassembled. The bones began to reform into multiple skeletons, each about the size of a grown person. Even more concerning, as the bodies formed, the bones melted and condensed, fusing together and turning a grayish color. Where there had been many hundreds of bones before, there were now ten skeletons standing in a circle around a huge green blade stabbed into the floor. The Amalgamation’s other blade had split into weapons for each of the ten. There were three swordsmen, three spearmen, three hand-to-hand fighters, and a single archer, with a cape of darkness. Even with his night vision, Edgar had a hard time spotting the archer as it moved quickly among the shadows.
“We’re gonna need a new plan!” Edgar shouted, extending his claws.
“Stick together. Let’s try to break through to the archer first. He’s probably the biggest damage dealer.”
Edgar nodded. “Ready?”
Mirai had her sword out now, glancing between the ten combatants ahead. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
The archer launched its first arrow and Edgar knocked it aside with the bone plates on his wrists. The blow was powerful, forcing him to step backwards, but Edgar smiled to himself as the armor held strong, suddenly feeling a hell of a lot more confident than he had in any combat before.
He was ready for this.
He was prepared.
He reached into his core and touched [Overdrive].
He had skills.
The enemies were strong, but so was he and so was Mirai.
With the heat of the skill flowing through his body, he glanced at Mirai and they charged.
~~~~~~~~~~
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