Fanatic. A white aura erupted from Kiyomi’s body. The aura and surrounding sparkles were so bright that the whole cave lit up.

All of the kraken’s tentacles came at her at once, but they bounced off her forcefield while she walked towards Razor.

She kneeled beside him, pulled down his scarf to expose his mouth, opened it with her fingers, and poured the Recovery Potion into it.

The tentacles didn’t stop bashing her forcefield around them, but she ignored the attacks and the kraken’s roars.

After a few moments, Razor opened his eyes slowly.

“Listen. We’re going to do this. You and me.”

“What?... How?”

“I’ll use Skill Share, then you share your skills with me.” Kiyomi would take the lead and duo with Razor, since everyone fucked up. She wouldn’t bother reviving the rest. They would get in the way. “We’ll coordinate our electric attacks and alternate aggro when needed.” Which meant Kiyomi would hold the kraken’s aggression for a while, then Razor would hold it for another while, and they would keep taking turns.

Razor slowly sat up, staring at her skeptically.

“You know, the fact that I’m holding off all these tentacles means I’m capable, don’t you think so?”

The tentacles around them continued their relentless assault on Kiyomi’s shield.

“Fine. Use my skills.”

“I’ll hold aggro first. Cut off the tentacles.”

He nodded.

When she dropped her shield, he dashed off.

Kiyomi got an idea but was unsure if it would work. Hopefully, she would have the mental fortitude for this. She let go of her staff. It floated out of the way. With open arms, she concentrated on the tentacles swinging towards her. She mentally counted them then formed fists tightly as if gripping something imaginary. They froze midair. She had locked them in a solid, psychokinetic grip. They felt hefty and squishy, but as long as she maintained concentration, she could keep them still.

Razor jumped from tentacle to tentacle, severing them with a long, electric blade.

The screeching kraken tried to wiggle its remaining limbs free from Kiyomi's grip, but her strength prevailed and locked them in place.

If she and Razor did this smoothly, they might not need a Stagger. His DoTs wouldn't stagger anyway, and with his numerous, swift but small hits, the stagger potential was low. This meant that if they wanted a Stagger, it would be up to Kiyomi, but for one person to stagger such a huge target was a tall task. And then Glancing Hits… Oh boy…

Razor sliced off the last of the limbs.

Kiyomi released her mental grip and lowered her arms, dropping the severed parts on the ground. Without limbs to retaliate, it was vulnerable. “Hard DPS!” She grabbed her floating staff and cast Fanatic on Razor.

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Simultaneously, they activated Overcharge. They had the same idea.

Electricity erupted out of Kiyomi. Her hat and robe morphed into a gel-like, semi-solid Light Armor. She had on a half helmet made of electricity with constantly moving electrical streaks like her armor. The helmet came down the sides of her head and left her face exposed. She mentally summoned her stats before her eyes. From the numbers, her Defense had dropped by half, but her Attack Power had doubled. Her staff went back to her inventory. Instead of fingers, she had large, purple claws that nearly reached the ground. They too sparked with electricity.

She sprinted forward and sprang high into the air with the help of an electric burst under her shoes. She came down onto the kraken’s head next to Razor with an outstretched hand and sank a clawed hand into it.

Razor stabbed his claws into the area below him repeatedly.

The kraken shrieked and fidgeted.

Kiyomi sailed across the kraken in a streak of electricity, dragging her claws along its skin and leaving glowing, purple lines. She stopped midair and thrust her claws against the skin on the side of its head only for them to slide sideways as if it were a slippery surface. The white words she had hoped she could avoid popped up: GLANCING HIT.

She tried again.

GLANCING HIT.

Again.

GLANCING HIT.

Three in a row? Her staff’s Accuracy had transferred to her claws, since she was still in a way wielding it in order to use Skill Share to borrow Razor’s Overcharge.

The damage numbers were miniscule. That 70 felt more like 50. Stupid RNG.

She continued stabbing away at the skin, alternating hands. Finally, she got in a long chain of consecutive hits. This would take a few minutes though, especially because of the Glancing Hits. At least they had time. Phase 2 wasn’t a DPS race.

~~~

Kingdom of Lamentine, the Capital, Town Square

A portal opened in the middle of a street.

A carriage headed its way.

Le Francia stepped out of the portal.

“OI! YOU’S IN THE WAY, LADY!” The driver yanked his reins, trying to stop the horse from running into her. The horse whinnied loudly, but it was too late.

She looked around and paid no mind to the irrelevance.

Her floating sword by her radiated light. Two portals appeared on either side of her.

The horse and carriage ran into the portal between them and emerged through the next portal on her opposite side, resuming its trip down the street.

Now for the palace. She marched in the direction of the palace with her loyal sword hovering behind her. The massive estate with elegant gates was hard to miss. And she had been here years ago as an ambassador to form a peace treaty, which promptly crumbled in mere months.

King Ascalon had dared to disrupt her efforts with a magic-draining device: the Chiming Bell. She had already found and snatched it from the culprit in the warzone before she had gotten here. But possessing it hardly quelled her annoyance. He had pulled a foul tactic, and so, he deserved nothing but the wrath of her blade. It would be unwise to continue holding back. She was done with the role of a cautious, astute mouse. Rushing headlong to land a decisive strike at the most critical point would be most effective. And then, she hoped, Lamentine’s next head would be more sensible.

If the other countries came after her in hot vengeance, so be it.

She despised the kingdom for the political hostilities it had demonstrated over the course of recent years. Refusing a fair share of the nearby natural resources, including the mines, coercing neighboring countries into imposing unreasonably high tariffs against Aria for its stubbornness, manipulating the international market, and bribing the Arts and Trades Commission into overlooking their embezzlements of international loans were only a few of its crimes.

She had to end this now for her own sake and sanity. Although, she was already gaining suspicious looks from the guards scattered about the streets. They were scanty as expected. Everyone was focused on the war, and so, they were presumably supporting it in whatever way they could.

Even if a thousand adversaries came at her, she wouldn’t submit. The only solution left was violence.