Chương 58: Out Of Cards

I am the one who will not le — Her authority fizzled out as something clumsily bashed her on the back of the head. She fell to her knees and rolled, dodging a follow-up strike from something. Her head was spinning and her eyes refused to focus as she scrambled backward. Concrete dust was thrown up as she moved, mixing with the blood that flowed freely from her head. Gloom coated the back of her head, and her vision flared into life just as a large Petal loomed over her with a sledgehammer.

It swung down, and she rolled to the side to avoid it, transitioning that roll back to a standing pose. She was lucky she wasn't knocked out or worse when she'd been hit. The partial activation must have done enough to save her. The Petal was large with very broad shoulders, wearing an oversized coat that hung off it like a cape. It swung the sledgehammer around with two hands, but looked like it could have with just one.

Grim crossed the distance quickly enough, and the shaft of the sledgehammer hit her instead of the metal. She grunted, but the small amount of pain wasn't enough to stop her from jamming the shadow claws laced with [SOUL TAP] into the Petal's throat. The healing was entirely different from [HEALING GLOOM]. Whereas that was a pleasant immediate relief as it wrapped around your skin, this was violent and painful as she felt the damage on the back of her head knit together.

Her copied Boon ran out halfway through, and she disengaged from the larger Petal as it struggled to come after her. Its life ran out a half step later, and it tumbled to the ground, twitching as it bled out. The dust still permeated the air and left her vision cut off from where Maya and Alyn had been, but she could still hear them both. The noises they were making were not good, but it at least told her they were still alive.

She wasn't sure what everyone else was doing, but she could certainly use their help right about now. She hadn't seen Sam once since they'd engaged this thing. It didn't matter, she didn't need them. The only person who could help all of them right now was her. I am the one wh — She ducked underneath the swing, baiting the Petal into attacking. Her fist landed in its stomach as a side hook with the metal on her gloves giving it some much-needed oomph.

She didn't let it have any space as she rose and stayed with it, smothering it with her body as she grabbed the side of its head and held it tight in a clinch. She felt a hard punch land in her side where her armour had been cracked but she stayed patient and waited for it to rear back for another swing. Her fingers dug into the tissue of the Petals head as she pulled it down and drove her knee into its jaw, disintegrating it and forcing it onto its back.

It spasmed once before it dropped the broken knife it had been holding. Knife? Grim's cursed as she felt blood and the rest of the broken dagger in her side. It had struck her between the damaged part of her armour and into her soft skin. She kicked the side of the corpse, letting slip an exasperated yell, "Are you fucking kidding me?" This was going to suck. She dug past her armour and the fabric into her skin. Blood dribbled down her side as she worked, trying to pull the piece out of her.

A shard bounced off her finger, but she twisted and pinched it hard enough to get a grip. She hissed as she pulled, the metal cutting into her as she removed it. It was smaller than she expected, and she knew that hadn't been everything. It was made of glass. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"Fuck!" Grim screamed as she patched the wound with her shadow. She took a step and felt the shards remaining in her shred the delicate nature of her healing. The internal pain of grinding glass was horrible, but the adrenaline helped her push through. If she could just get to Alyn, she could heal herself. There was a silhouette in the dust, and she ran up to it, intent on destroying it as fast as possible when she recognized a flash of golden hair.

"Sam?" She jumped, startled by Grim's voice. She spun around as her eyes darted, looking for danger. The normally stoic and aloof woman had gained an air of wildness about her.

"Oh wow. Did not expect to see you still alive," Sam said as she tried to slip her carefree mask back on. Grim furrowed her brow, "What? We've almost killed it, just follow me and I'll show you." Sam pushed her hand away.

"Are you crazy? It's a war zone out there. Listen, you can come with me if you want, but we can't save everyone."

"Maya and Alyn need help," Grim said. Before Sam could reply, the girl dove at Grim, and she found herself in a different world. Her hands went to her throat as her lungs sucked on nothing. The concrete dust was gone, and she could see the layout of the courtyard laid out before her. It was empty of the giant, petals or anybody else except for something in black that was watching her. Sam tried to pull her away towards the clock tower.

Her eyes were closed as she pulled, but Grim dug her feet in and resisted her, trying to head to where she thought the rest of her group was. In the time she'd looked away, the creature had crossed an incredible amount of distance, its rags hanging frozen in the air. Sam stopped holding her breath, and the two of them were back in the real world, a large gouge now dug into the concrete where they'd been standing. She couldn't see what had caused it, as she relished being able to breathe again.

"What… was that?" Grim asked. Sam frowned, "You had your eyes open? Well, looks like we'll have to part ways. Good chance you'll get ripped apart if you come with me again."

"What was that? No, doesn't matter. Just help me get to them." Grim asked. She shrugged, "I'm not going to do that. Good luck." Grim lunged for her.

"No, wait!" Her hand grasped nothing. She searched around her, but Sam had disappeared back into that other dimension. Not even a trace of where she'd gone remained. There was no hope of tracking her in this dust. It had cleared slightly, but only to where she could see outlines. It was enough. She sprinted forward towards Maya and tackled the Petal off her, sending it tumbling away. It couldn't figure out how to stand back up with its missing arm, causing it to flail on the ground.

Maya wasn't moving beneath her, but after Grim felt her wrist, she still had a pulse. Even if it was weak. Her face was a motley colour of bruises and blood. Grim wasn't a Doctor, but it looked like her orbital bone had been smashed, destroying Maya's eye. She kneeled down and used [HEALING GLOOM] depleting most of her shadow but stabilizing her at the very least. This was probably the worst injury she'd ever used it on, and she wasn't sure if it was powerful enough to fix something gone.

Grim waited for her to wake up once she'd finished, but she didn't.

"Shit, okay, okay, Maya, hold on. I'll be right back, I'll be right back," Grim said as their blood mixed on the pavement.

"I just need to borrow your sword." Her sword was small enough to be wielded one-handed and had a slight curve to the blade. Otherwise, the handle was all black, and it lacked a guard. It wasn't a weapon made for dueling but for attacking. She tried to search for any Boons inscribed on the weapon, but beyond being made with exceptional materials, it was completely ordinary. The blade was still sharp as she slashed the Petal that had attacked Maya, ending its life.

The sounds of fighting were deafening all around them, and the telltale sign of a rifle blaring at least told her that Solomon was still alive and getting closer. Alyn screamed as nearly her entire arm and shoulder had been pulled into the Giant's chest mouth. She fought, alternating between jerking her body upwards and slashing with her free hand. The grip it had on her was too tight, and every time it bit down, it used its lips to pull her in just a bit closer.

The teeth mangled her bones, but Grim could see her healing it with [SOUL TAP]. She must have been drawing in an absurd amount of energy, but the Giant seemed content to make that trade, even if it still couldn't lift its body. More petals had crossed the void and were making their way towards the screaming, but Grim saw a path and took it, avoiding them so she could jump onto the Giant's chest as well.

"I can't get free," Alyn said through her teeth. Grim accepted that information even though she'd already known it. There was only one way she could get her free before her neck and head were pulled into the creature's maw. She raised the blade high above her head and sliced down on Alyn's shoulder, severing her arm from her body.