“Duck!” Myron ordered and Dakini turned herself into a close approximation of a duck, thus ducking out of the way of the lunging Bubachew, a Water mouse Aimon, that had attacked her, appearing right before a prepared Mery who slammed a [Hard Right] into its whiskered face and snout. Smashing it in, driving that punch deep into its face and the mouse itself into the ground.
She jumped back avoiding another and growled much like Myron cursed when the one she had just pulverized actually stood up, unharmed. She spun and slammed her elbow into the side of another attacking Bubachew and jumped up at Myron’s beckon to cast a [Surge] below her. Dakini took flight unsteadily and dodged the relentless assault of the torrent before diving back down, her tails turned into nails that pierced through the undulating skin and flesh of her opponents finally earning herself a shriek of pain and blood.
“Only piercing attacks work!” She shouted and Myron relayed that information to Syl who was busy dealing with the matriarch of this tribe of mice and her strongest mates, cutting them up with her claws, binding them with with roots and grass and sending the leeching seeds to burrow into their skin and suck out their life. Thus sustaining herself and drawing enough attention to herself to give the other two some space, and Myron couldn’t thank her enough for it.
All the while, Syl more than the other two had to be conscious of the way she used her power and Abilities, lest she overtax herself and leave them stranded in this war-zone without proper protection.
“Use yours tusks if you can Mery, Dakini, stay afloat, pierce and stab, and take them with you if you can. Give space and pick your enemies.”
Mery took his suggestion to heart and chomped down on an Aimon, Bursting it almost like a balloon, water and intestines gushed out and she spat the healing Aimon to the ground, getting slammed by two more and having to use [Surge] at Myron’s urging to put more space between them and her.
Myron finally took charge of Syl, able to pay attention now that a gap in the battle with the other two came about thanks to the pushing power of [Surge], the tidal wave doing a lot to give the water creatures away despite dealing little damage if any at all.
“[Alloy Body], take the blow! Into [Polished Sheen],” he added, knowing that she had more than enough Shield, and levels on her opponent to actually tank the hit without problem. Syl would have otherwise dodged, as she should for self preservation is an important instinct to have, but now was not the time.
A Mortar bomb of Water fell atop her and exploded out, water sprayed everywhere as if they were standing on a lake and Myron had to steady himself not to have his legs swept out from under him. Syl morphed into her Emeramantis form, shining in resplendent glory, and her body took on a metallic gleam, her claws seeming even sharper for it. “Rend them to bits, try and make the attack spread out as much as possible, make four claw marks if you can.” Myron said and turned his attention back to Dakini and Mery.
Just in time to see a small Bubachew rushing him on all four paws, wading through the water unfazed. She lunged at him, her two flat fangs encased in small whirlpools of water like drills. He brought a rock up and smacked the underside of her jaw and snapping her mouth shut, feeling his legs go slack at the same time and falling on his ass. She sailed over him and before touching the ground Dakini was there, dropping from the skies. Her talons turned into swords which she used to pierced through her and eviscerate her.
Myron watched with a disturbed stomach the true way to kill these Aimon, immune to blunt damage and weak to piercing damage. He saw it heal thanks to its shield only to be torn open again in a mess of superimposed flesh, with her body having no resistance to the cutting edge of her legs which she almost used like chopsticks at this point.
“Sorry about that Myron, I let her get away.”
He shook his head, waving her off. They were all doing their best. He turned his eyes to Mery, who was bobbing and weaving through the lunging foes, pushing them away, with the palm of her hand and parrying their bodies, letting them slide on her forearms and away from her head which they tried to bite into incessantly. Biting into them whenever she could to deal some damage while her frustration grew.
“Mery, use [Hard Right] with your left hand too! I’ll provide you with the Aether, if that is what you worry about. Focus the energy, make your movements tighter.” Myron said and pushed his Skill once more into her, a feat that became just that bit easier after having done it the first time, and with the levels it had gained.
Mery stopped, sending shock over their bond at the fact that the thought had not occurred to her before. They had both read the name of the Ability and Myron understood her shock, but that wasn’t the time for it, hence the sharing of his Passive. She shook it off with a chuckle and clenched her left fist, punching down hard. Harder than usual having gotten a boost of levity.
“Focus more. To a Point, you control the energy, you use the Ability, it is yours. Focus it down, razor sharp. You’re a Water Type after all. Be like Water, Mery.” Myron stole the quote without remorse, jumping away from another attacker and seeing he didn’t have to as Dakini had made landfall in front of it, her tails into shields and her nails pushing through themas they morphed back into fluffy delights, digging into the face of the foe that would seek to do him harm and destroying its brain. It pushed itself away and healed, showing the miraculous effect of the shield, though it didn’t get to live for much longer.
These Aimon, clearly had a uniquely low shield Amount.
Suddenly a gust of emotions, success and shock, flooded him from Syl. He turned his attention to her. He jumped up on a boulder nearby and got a better look. Much to her own surprise, his directions found purchase, and the move rend, which had already evolved once, was finally on its way to growing even further. Born from a blindingly fast use of her metallic claws to cut up opponents many times with one long; twisting; stroke.
It had found a second wind, literally as Syl felt something foreign burst forth from her core, her Crystal, her pool of Aether and Soul. Wind Type energy burst forth and the movement became so much easier. The wind carried her claws along, and it made the gashed she cut into opponents and the atmosphere itself wider and deeper for it. Then, as a stroke of brilliance she changed her footwork just a tad to match the revamped speed of the growing Ability and a fourth rend was added to the three. Her enemies begun to die in swaths, cut apart by so much damage that they didn’t recover quick enough to dodge out of the way of [Metal Claw]
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She used [Polished Sheen] yet again and her body grew even heavier, her movements even sharper, so sharp the wind cried out with her ever stroke. He sent her a thumbs up, and she received it with a mad cackle at her success. She became a blur to fast for him to see.
So Myron focused back on Mery, who was trying and failing to take his advice. Her fists rained wildly upon her enemies, so fierce and powerful that they managed to stun some of the weaker foes attacking her. Her footwork grew swifter and more compact, not a moment wasted. She begun to predict her opponents movements and little by little she went on the offensive, against a horde of dozens of enemies. She was a kinesthetic genius, the computation of her brain must have been superior to any single thought Myron had ever had.
Myron guessed that it was innate in all Aimon, the ability to fight, but truly, when he looked at the way Mery moved he couldn’t help but admire the artistry in Martial Arts.
“Ah… That’s it.” He closed his fist and with his thumb over his fingers, close to the knuckle. And then he held his fingers together and opened them up. He bent his thumb just a little and held that form strong. He held that image in place, and sent it through their bond.
Something clicked in him, and it clicked in Mery as well. The Karate Chop, a move that seemed unassuming yet a staple of the martial art that had been honed for thousands of years, a Martial Art which even to the untrained eye could be observed for its devastating force, its strong and harsh attacks, aiming for power and perfect form, lethality, and the breaking of the opponent through sheer overwhelming force.
With the image of his hand Myron sent the feeling he imagined a Martial Master of Karate would have, a Veteran spear of a thousand battles, a cliff-face that has faced thousand storms, and a waterfall that has made rock and earth crumble before its crushing might.
“Mery Jump, Dakini, pull her away.” Myron said and the two acted in unison. Mery now stood not ten steps away from Myron, her eyes closed and her breaths forcefully deep. She gathered herself and opened her eyes. Her right hand burned with the usual wild energy of a Fist, and the other was opened in a Karate Chop. Myron nodded.
The first enemy lunged and she smacked him in the head, her Ability not working properly and thus not pushing the enemy far enough away to stop his protruding teeth from biting into her. Dakini was there, on the ground and in the mud to cut off its head.
The next one came. Near the base of Mery’s palm a bright orange spot of Fighting Type Aether sputtered in-and-out of existence. A failure once again. She stepped back, Myron mimicked her. Another three came, rushing eyes bloodshot. Water left their gapings mouths and swirled around them. They lunged and spun, picking up speed even whilst in the air and piercing through the distance. Dakini held up a shield with an angle against the ground and grunted when the three projectiles smashed into it. Their momentum carried them over the shield.
Myron had already stepped close having ordered the specific use of the shield. They sailed over him and he threw rocks at them as they landed. Mery rushed in front of him and kicked the closest one to the face. Dakini faced off in stalemate against the dozen or so water mouse Aimon. Myron stepped back and twirled aside like a ballerina, kicking the assailant in the face and then hopping back to let Mery pound him into the ground.
“Dakini, [Astonish], and hop away!”
“[Surge], put as much Aether you can into it.” He turned to Mery and she nodded. She gathered Aether from her pool all the while holding the torrent gathering in front of her chest and in between her palms back. “Not enough!” Myron stopped her from releasing it.
“More!”
“You can do more!” He shouted once more when more than 12 points of Aether had been dumped into the move. Mery shook, blood trickled down from her nose, fighting with her life against the destructive power of a Tsunami, to tame it, to control it.
Dakini was out of the way, while Syl ran straight through the small horde, slid and spun around, a mandrake cried its horrible call, and then she was behind Myron, killing the two remaining Mice with little trouble.
“This is the moment, for now, you have control, but you teeter on the edge of balance.” Myron said calmly, unlike the raging tumult Mery felt. “Now let it flood.” He whispered and nodded in satisfaction when a four meter tall wave, spread out from Mery in a cone of destruction, growing wider and stronger as it pushed its own momentum ever forward.
Houses whole would have been destroyed had they been in a city. Now the earth simply tore up, pulled along by the crashing torrent. They begun to stand up sure, some where dead for good while others groggy and many turned tail and ran. As in that moment Syl who had been anticipating the attack managed to get the jump on the distracted Matriarch and killed her. Petals begun to descend from the sky like snow in winter.
Mery stumbled but Myron held her up. He stood steady, a hand on her back, and she gathered herself, her Shield healing all the damage she caused to her own equilibrium. She stepped forth, and then she was jogging.
She punched with her right hand, one of the enemies to the ground, and then took a deep breath. It all happened in an instant of perfection. A thrum of power blew out of Mery and buffeted Myron and the rest. The World watched in silence… Almost.
“Impossible.” Syl muttered.
{Took!} Like two blocks of wood slamming against each other, a crisp sound passed over them as the [Karate Chop] became a reality. Her opponent stopped moving, malfunctioning, blood and organs falling out of her body, her eyes having popped. The penetrating power of the ability having destroyed her from the inside. She kept on going. She took out a whole six of them with twelve of the Chops eating into Myron’s reserves of Aether but he complained not a bit, and why should he? Let her have her fun!
Syl rushed in and did clean up. Before snapping her head around to Myron who was busy picking Mery up - with at least a beat of strain that would go unmentioned - and congratulating her for bringing a new Ability to life.
“I wish I had done that before the end of the fight though.” She complained but Myron kissed her and denied that attitude.
“Don’t even start. What you managed in a single prolonged engagement was absolutely amazing.” He smacked her bottom and she jumped away, pouting at him cutely. “From the improved form of your punches and kicks, to your incredible footwork and predictive parrying and countering, to of course, earning yourself a New Ability. What is there to be dissatisfied about?”
“Myron. What in the Gods name? What did you just pull off?!”
“It was a great Idea, right? Inspiration just struck me out of nowhere, you feel me?” He laid a pitying hand on her shoulder. Feeling a bit smug. Just a bit.
“I don’t.” He slapped the hand off and Myron chuckled.
“Yeah, I felt as much. Why though? This reaction seems a bit over-dramatic.”
“Myron. What you just did. Is…”
“Impossible? Clear it’s not.”
“It should be really hard to do. It’s supposed to at least take time. You’ve been with her for a day.”
“Yeah well, it just goes to show the Quality of our Bond, and that times matter little in friendship.” He high-fived Mery with a smile on his face, unfazed by Syl.