Chapter 32: The Best Laid Plans

“Go! Go! Go!”

I jumped from the rooftop, Electra half a step behind.

I crashed into the feet first, servos whining as my legs hit the ground. I rolled, coming to a stop in front of another member of the Tarnished. My hand came up, pressing against his grieved shin as he tried to get a sword out of his sheath.

“Demon-itize!” Black tendrils of magic raced into him. He screamed for half a beat. Then he exploded, and a gryphon reared in the space he’d just stood.

I flipped the hood of my cloak back from where it caught the blood splatter. Then I stood just in time for Electra to throw a bolt of lightning into the guards in front of the Tarnished warehouse. My demons came a second later, just in time to catch the reinforcements pouring out of the doors.

We’d come a long way from just jumping people in alleys. Unfortunately, the Tarnished had adapted as well.

A spear user pushed out the front doors of the warehouse. With swift strikes, he cleared a space for the rest of his men. I hurled a demon-itize at his head, but he batted it away with the haft of his spear.

I was really starting to get annoyed by combat classers no-selling my magic.

I took two steps back, directly my newly summoned gryphon into the fray. It caught a blade on its inky-black wing, taking the blow to rip out the wielder’s throat.

The spear punched through its head a moment later.

I clicked my tongue. “That was your friend, you know.”

The gave a laugh and leapt at me spear first.

I had just enough time for a curse before the tip hit my gauntlets and threw me backwards. I hit a wall, spinning away from a followup thrust.

“Could use a hand here, Electra!” Normally, my words would be swallowed by the din, but fortunately, I had a skill that made sure my orders were carried perfectly.

I ducked a thrust, jumping back as the spear shattered part of the brick wall behind me in a flash of silver.

Electra was at my side a beat before the could turn. She flicked out a hand, and two thunderbolts raced out from her fingers.

“Haa!” The leader shouted. His spear spun, slowing as it hit both streaks of lightning like it was cutting through something physical. The magical electricity dissipated in a shower of sparks that popped when they hit the ground.

“Getting real tired of this sword saint BS.” Electra raised her other hand.

“How do you think I feel?”

I drew my arm back to throw another skill at the man, then he lunged.

“Fucking—” I threw up my arms, the blade of the spear screaming off the gauntlets. I saw a flash of annoyance cross his face as his skill failed to penetrate once more.

Empress’s Armor 2, system bullshit 0.

“Hey stick boy!” Electra punched. Her fist glowed blue with lightning.

The jerked back, arcing streaks of electricity singing his hair. I took a few steps back as her next two punches met the haft of his spear.

I could feel the tide of the battle slowly grinding into a stalemate with my skill. The Tarnished kept Electra and I from adding our weight to the main push of the demons, and without a heavy hitter, my hobblefiends and gryphons couldn’t take out a well-prepared group of combat classers.

He took a leap back and counterattacked with a wall of pinpoint thrusts. I found Electra and myself pushed back from the front of the warehouse as my army of demons started to grow perilously thin.

Electra grunted as she batted a thrust aside with a burst of electricity. “Looks like they were more ready than you thought, huh Empress.”

“Faster than I wanted.”

I took a step forward, catching an overhead blow against crossed arms. The man raised an eyebrow; I tried to get a grip on his spear, but he yanked it back before I could and replied with a kick to the stomach. I let out a gasp, even as the gel layer of my armor took the worst of the impact.

Electra threw a wave of arcing lightning at him. “Think he’ll let us get away?” It bought us a second to breathe.

“Not likely.” I summoned another pair of gryphons. They were the beefiest demons I had that were always down for a scrap. I didn’t have the time to bargain for something better suited to the current challenge. “Charge me up.”

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“I’ll be running pretty low on actual electricity after that.”

I popped the emergency charge port on my shoulder as the made short work of my first gryphon.

Her hand slapped my arm, and my armor beeped once as it went from power saving mode to fully charged.

Another spear thrust killed my second gryphon.

My gantlet unfolded into a death-ray. The coiled emitter vibrated against the back of my hand before spitting out a beam of supercharged, one-size-fits-all death.

For the first time, the man’s eyes widened. His spear snapped up, glowing a sharp gold as he activated a skill of his own. The tip of the spear hit the plasma beam. An explosion bloomed from the point of contact, painting the alley a blinding white. I shielded my eyes with one hand.

At my side, the death-ray whined once before powering down. With a flick of my arm, it folded away.

“Sheesh.” Electra waved away the smoke. “Why don’t you use that all the time?”

“When I’m running on battery power, a couple of shots is enough to drain the suit,” I said. “Someone blew up my generator.”

“Could have been anyone,” she replied.

Despite the banter, neither of us took our eyes off of the smoke.

Slowly it cleared, revealing our opponent still standing on his own two feet. “Oh come on!” It was a struggle not to roll my eyes. “What are they feeding you people?”

Electra chuckled, her hands rising into a ready stance once again. “Might want to upgrade your kit, Em.”

At least the man hadn’t emerged unscathed. He was breathing heavily, clutching the haft of his shattered spear. I saw a streak of blood on his cheek, where a bit of superheated metal had flown past and cut him open. While the magic of this world was powerful, its material science lagged just a few steps behind my own.

Electra hummed. “Do you think he’ll run away?”

I raised my hand, fingers glowing inky-black. “He will if he knows what’s good for him.”

His eyes flicked to his spear, then back to the two of us.

I fired my skill.

The blurred backwards, taking out a few more hobblefiends as he went.

“Nice.” Electra walked out of the alleyway. “Now let’s finish this.”

I glanced down the street. “We’re out of time, unfortunately.”

She followed my gaze, catching sight of the distinctive silver-embossed armor of the city guard. “Dang. I liked it more when inevitability was on my side.”

“We could probably take them both.” I offered.

Electra shot me an aggrieved look.

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand, turning back towards the alleyway as I summoned one more wave of demons. “No messing with the law unless we have to.”

Electra followed after me as we broke into a jog. “You know most of them are just doing the best they can.”

I looked at her over my shoulder. “I’m sure most of the Tarnished are doing what they think is best as well.”

She grumbled, picking up the pace. “Is this even working, Empress?”

Normally, it would be a struggle to keep up with the more physically fit hero, but power armor made it a breeze. “I’ll let you know after we hit the location.”

“They’ll probably be ready there as well.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m hoping.” I smirked. “Besides, haven’t you noticed?”

“Noticed what?” Electra asked.

“Arlo hasn’t shown his smarmy face since I handed his balls to him two days ago, despite the fact that they could definitely use another elite to help shore up the defenses.”

“I mean, he didn’t look very combat-oriented when you bent him over a table.”

“Hopefully the rest of the tarnished has a few more high level classers like him, instead of people like that .” I looked up at the overcast sky. It drizzled lightly this morning, and the cloud cover had only thickened since then. “It’s all moot. I can’t use the spy mirror to pick out new targets without making our sky skimmer fly so low people might be able to see it.”

Electra mulled that over. We slowed, flipping up our hoods as we mixed back into the crowds of people filling the streets of Silverwall. The city continued to move despite the two-woman gang war Electra and I were waging. I could see the tension and worry in their faces though, especially as we wound closer to our next target on the north side of the city.

Well, you couldn’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

“The response time of the city guard is getting faster,” Electra said after a few minutes of silence.

I nodded. “This time, maybe they’ll finish the job for us. Arlo’s probably lost his informants and toadies in the guard as well.”

“I don’t know, the demons also make it pretty obvious that you’re here as well, don’t they?”

“Hoisted by my own petard.” I gave a wry smile. “Yes, it’s pretty obvious I’m in the city now, but what makes it so strange is that Hawkwright hasn’t done anything about it. He’s refusing to change focus.” That made it especially frustrating that our efforts against the Tarnished were already running into serious opposition.

If Hawkwright brought more guards back from the jungle to reinforce the city, we could turn around and hit his monster camp again. If we managed to scatter all the monsters, it could put an end to his ambition to create a stampede to overrun Lady’s Port before the end of the migration season. The old man clearly knew that, and while mid-sized squads of guards eventually responded to any disturbance Electra and I caused, the number of patrols on the streets remained nearly zero.

“So much for upending the board,” I muttered. “I expected him to care a little bit more about his own skin.”

“Not sure why he would.” Electra nodded her head towards the massive inner wall. Even in the overcast light, its silver-capped crenelations gleamed against the stone. “He’s safe up there.”

“And we’re still down here.” I shook my head. “Just a bunch of mangy dogs biting and nipping at each other while the master sits inside the house.”

“Sure would have been a lot easier if Arlo had decided to play nice, huh?”

“Yes,” I replied. “It sure would.”

We slowed to a stop as we neared our next destination. Electra tugged my sleeve and pointed to a lookout hunched over a nearby roof.

“Well, let’s get to work.” I flicked back my hood. He hadn’t seen us yet.

“I don’t have enough electricity to charge up your get out of jail free card this time,” Electra said.

“Then let’s not need it.” I shook out my hands. “Quick in and out before those pesky guards get here this time.”

“Hey, look at the bright side.” Electra sank to one knee, lining up a shot on the lookout. Magical lightning was surprisingly silent until it was released. “If the guards are here, they aren’t at the camp.”

“They aren’t somewhere.”

The man on the rooftop must have caught sight of the actinic blue glow of Electra’s skill. He raised his head in our direction just as Electra released the bolt of lightning. It hit him full in the face with a dull crack.

The man toppled over backwards without making another sound.

I bumped her shoulder. “Lucky shot.”

Electra just grinned. “Always is.”