It was a testament to how distracted I was by the attackers that I didn't notice Jessie vanishing. Luckily, no amount of distraction was enough to make me miss the giant fuck off BEAR exploding from the snow at one of the hidden attackers. Apparently Jessie had noticed them and used her Shape of the Wild Skill to attack the closest one head on with all the animal fury of her big fuzzy companion. Or would that be animal furry?

Either way, the ambusher wasn't expecting that shit at all, nor was the one to his left expecting my girlfriend to step from the darkness cast by his shadow and jam a black bladed dagger into the base of his spine (enough to paralyze him but not beyond Jessie's ability to fix). Sadly, expecting it wasn't necessary when you were wearing armor, and the dagger skidded off the thin breastplate with a shower of sparks.

Callie's outline blurred as she activated her armor and then vanished in a blur of motion as six clones of hers took off in six separate directions, her victim freezing as he became spoiled for choice. My cousin had faded out of existence, I'd seen her flip her hood up and somehow render herself invisible rather than just concealing her face. I had no clue where she got that, but it was pretty cool.

My own staff came free with a swish, toxic flame crawling down it as I imbued it with my standard skill combo. I could feel the death energy humming inside it, but I could also feel it was nowhere near full. I had no interesting in burning my strongest shot early, so I'd charge it up more before I dropped the hammer, so to speak.

Valk had intercepted a trio of fighters alongside Perit, and seeing those two actually fight in conjunction was kind of terrifying. And finally Celine and Benny were backing up Mel, the three of them fighting a pair of big fighters who looked like brothers, leaving me with two fighters of my own to handle. We'd gotten the drop on them mostly, I was glad to see. Jessie had initiated and the other revealed themselves through sheer surprise.

The two I needed to fight were distracted, not having focused on me yet as they reacted to the mass attack. I triggered double trouble, bringing my Stygian branch up and around in a whirling smash aimed at the taller of the two's head.

Rather than block, which I could have phased through with my weapon, the tall man dropped boneless, the staff flying over his head as he hit his hands in pushup position, then kicked up his long legs in a whirling attack aimed at my neck.

With State of Grace still active, it was easy to slide aside, triggering Moonlit Night in the surrounding area. The fog filled the space around us, completely translucent to me, but more than enough to obstruct their view as I took them both in for weaknesses.

The tall one I'd attacked was a pale man with long crooked teeth and stringy hair. The other one, who was circling around us, was a pretty dark skinned girl with long wavy hair and big hazel eyes. She ALSO had a really disturbing smile on her face, and her fingers appeared to be literal knives, at least at the moment.

She dove in for an attack, and I whirled my staff into position, grinning internally as her claws sparked off one of the metal endcaps and I felt the thrum of life force entering the storm of converted power inside the staff. It was almost unnoticeable, but I'd realized over time that the staff had been slowly adapting to me as I used it.

The weight had been lessening, my grip seeming more sure, and the power seemed more in tune with me the more I worked with the item. It was a powerful and dangerous weapon, and I absolutely loved how it felt as I got more and more used to it. It still wasn't LIGHT, granted, but it almost felt like it was learning to suppress its Impact most of the time, only releasing it when in combat.

My pondering was interrupted sadly, by the big guy lashing out with a pair of whips made of ACTUAL blood, which seemed to be on fire as it flowed freely in crimson rivers from his open wrists. The scarlet flames were pinging my Danger Sense hard, so I knew touching them would be a bad call.

Rather than dodge normally, I planted my staff and shoved off, using the combination of force and State of Grace to soar up into the air. They continued attacking the same spot, though once they didn't land a hit they eased up, and I realized that they'd seen the beginning of my dodge as I activated my concealment and they'd inferred my destination from that. They couldn't ACTUALLY see me in Moonlit Night, which was a relief.

I bounced off nothing, Ripple Running still active, though that was my last step with it, and landed softly on the grass behind them. Tall guy didn't notice, but claws girl whirled and lashed out at me with her knife fingers. Knife fingers which created literal TEARS in the air that rushed toward me, even temporarily clearing small lines in the fog. They sealed themselves right after, but the girls grin told me she'd noticed it too.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

So I had to spend the next five minutes dodging hails of air slashes as she did her best to tear enough holes in my fog to be able to spot me, which she didn't because any time she tried I just jumped over them and her both. I considered closing in, but I'd triggered my overlay here, and I could see the ways my attacks would probably fail if I went in too soon. So I just waited, letting her tire herself out and accidentally cut up her buddy at least once, much to my amusement.

He seemed much less amused, and after the third time he lashed out with one of his whips, and she yelped as it cut into her. Eyes wide with rage, she whirled on him and lunged, and I took the chance to put her down. I used Double Trouble, arriving in the air behind her back as she dove forward, parallel to the ground. I triggered Mercy Kill, Marked for Death, and Flurry of Blows, then slammed my Stygian Branch straight down into her spine, doing my best to avoid any vital organs.

I managed to do that, but I did NOT avoid pinning her to the ground like a butterfly on a card. She screamed, and the other guy lashed out with the whips, only for me to use double trouble again and appear behind him. The whips didn't hit the girl, he had way too much control, and he yanked them back once they passed through the space I should have been in.

Backing off, I kept an eye on him as he crept closer to her to check on his fallen teammate. She was lying on the ground, eyes wide and pained, shuddering like she was cold as her lips basically turned blue.

It took me only a minute to realize exactly why. The staff drained life force on contact, and I'd driven it INTO her. It had been sucking up life energy until I vanished, and while she was clearly still alive, it had obviously not been a pleasant experience. I winced in sympathy, but the roaring of deathly power in my staff had grown louder by a substantial amount.

Apparently that was a faster way to absorb the stuff. I didn't bother to use the death burst on the tall guy. He was disturbed and alone, and it only took me a few minutes to smash his elbows and knees in one at a time with hit and run tactics.

Moonlit Night made stealth attacks more deadly, and the staff was heavy and brutally powerful. It was a deadly combination. Once my battle ended I looked around to find the others mostly done. Abel was still going, but the rest of them had already subdued their own, or driven them off. From counting some of them had clearly run off, which was amusing, but it also meant they could come back at any moment with backup.

I let Moonlit Night drop, striding out of the dispersing fog as I stowed my staff. Above us, Palms and fists crashed against a giant axe phantom, and seemed to be getting the upper hand. Expert vs Intermediate was a big gap, even if I suspected Raul had higher stats. I looked around, finding Callie leaned against a tree, wincing and holding her side. I was next to her in an instant.

"Are you ok?" I asked in a panic. Her face was pale and bloodless and her eyes were a bit hazy. I planted a hand on her shoulder and triggered a scan heal and heal burst combo. She shuddered as the energy flowed into her, and I felt the break in her ribs through the scan as I watched it mend. I sighed in relief then looked around. "Ok, where is Jessie? Why didn't she come fix you up? Is she still fighting?"

I couldn't see my friend for a second, but that was because I expected her to have turned back. It only took a quick look to notice she had NOT done that, and was currently mauling a tree viciously while ignoring everything else. I blinked at her savage attack on the local flora for a second before realizing what had happened.

Jessie had put down her two opponents and even managed to keep herself from killing them (though she hadn't been gentle judging by the bloodstains and the two trails leading off into the mountains), she had not however, had full control. She was attacking the tree to keep from attacking anything else.

After I made sure Callie was healing (it would take some time, my heal bursts were G-rank still, at least until I refilled) I strolled over to the massive ursine form of my friend. "Jessie." I said calmly as I arrived next to her. She glared at me, snarling madly before returning to her tree murder. I sighed, slipped out my staff, and infused it with a tranq blow before slamming it down on the base of her bear skull with everything I had.

She yelped, stumbling away. Instead of whirling and trying to kill me like I'd half expected though, she started shaking her head. One shake, then two, trying to clear out...something. Finally, she fell to her haunches and threw back her head for a roar that turned into a scream of pain as she changed back. "Fuck!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as she slumped back into the snow clutching her head. "Ow, ow, ow."

I winced. Bear or not that wouldn't have been pleasant. "Sorry." I said sympathetically. "I thought it might help."

She shook her head roughly. "No. It did. That was...fine. Maybe next time just punch me. How did you know that would even work?"

I just shrugged. "You looked like you were going crazy, figured being calmed down might help. Sedative and all."

"Well it did, thanks." She grunted. "My head is killing me, but at least its not full of bear rage. Seriously. Bears are REALLY angry. Not like...some kind of blood rage. Just grumpy and pissed off almost all the time. And it's not very easy to ignore. Remind me to give Randall a hug for being such a good boy."

I laughed, helping her up and walking with her over to Callie. "Cal got messed up pretty bad. I did what I could but my heals are weak. Older stuff you know. Can you look her over?" She smiled gingerly and nodded before kneeling next to my girlfriend. Above us the sunlight axe shattered under a barrage of punches. I hoped she hurried up. We needed to go before the ray went down. I didn't want another fight so soon if I could help it.