Chương 67: R&R2 Ch. 6 — Special Move

Nicholas eyed the goliath as he ran through options for a plan they should be able to handle it. They had fought D-ranks at F when working together with their soul items, so this should be well within the wheelhouse. But that thing was titanic.

"Probably weaker than Mist Guy, but not by much, edge of the rank?" Jasmine said, picking up the same thing he was.

"That's my read as well," Nicholas agreed as he tugged on his soul. A golden book spooled into existence as a river of liquid silver flowed around Jasmine's limbs. This was well within what they could handle, probably, but they weren't going to take a risk they didn't need to. Focus was going to serve them a lot better.

"Don't worry about me; I can maximize myself," Jasmine said as Quicksilver shaped into weapon and armor augments. It was her default use: maximize command, increased power for whatever she was already using, and shaped to augment the physical form further. Nicholas wasn't sure what commands to use; his normal modus oprendi with Book was to have one use a long-lasting command and the other use higher-impact ones. But without playroom, that didn't work.

He didn't need to use all aspects right now, and now he knew he needed to make another long-lasting command if he wanted that strategy." Barrage" Bolts of energy flew as Nicholas tracked the goliath. It was nearly fifty feet tall and was going to try and crush him like a bug. So they had to stop that from happening. Combo had been a whim of an idea for another word he had been working on, but it had proved useful during their game when he did it on accident so he could set it up.

"I'm going to try and set up a chain of attacks to hit him with a one-two punch, you think you can keep him off me?" Nicholas asked as he went through his list, picking appropriate attacks. He could feel from the vague impressions he had made with the word combo that actual attacks would synergize better. Nicholas didn't have a lot of those.

"On it, if you're going to use impact, let me know," Jasmine said, crashing into the fist of the goliath and holding it back. Okay, so if she were fully burning power, Jasmine could block an attack cleanly. Nicholas filed that away for later." Burn" The foot of the goliath lit with silver flames as it stumbled to the side, giving Jasmine the chance to slam her hammer into its head. That was two; he was hoping to get at least a five-hit combo in, even if that meant going to the dregs for words.

"Next attack?" Jasmine prompted.

"Of course," Nicholas agreed. She was too far away for him to be certain, but he was pretty sure that the shape of Quicksilver changed, perhaps into something more useful for impact? Though he couldn't fathom what that would be besides the hammer.

"Take this monkey brain! Impact!"" Impact" An explosion of blood arcs through the sky as Jasmine's hammer is damn near buried into the shoulder of the colossal monster.

"What did you do?" Nicholas asked, picking out his next word.

"Shaped Quicksilver into a pick, and timed my impact with yours, I wanted to see what would happen if it would compound or if it would just be addition." Jasmine said, flying away from the giant to get distance. Notably, she wasn't holding her hammer anymore.

"Stuck?"

"Stuck."

"I'll clear a path," Nicholas said. He had wanted to go for a bigger combo, but that was fine; he could manage. His attention fully on the shoulder holding her weapon hostage, Nicholas drew out his power in a rush, pushing his newly reforged body." Combo" Explosions rocked the shoulder of the monster. One, two, three. Emerald light rippled through the shoulder, and Jasmine's hammer returned to her outstretched hand. She cackled as she rocketed back in.

Nicholas had to wonder if she had gotten it stuck just so she could use the opportunity for something like that. He wouldn't put it past her. But what shocked him the most was how easy this was for them; it wasn't like they were that deep into the next rank, their powers still hadn't settled. And now they were fighting an enemy they would have struggled with last week cleanly. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He wouldn't say the fight was a walk in the park. But they weren't in danger of losing, and they weren't being pushed to their limits.

"Jasmine?" Nicholas asked, wanting to gauge her opinion.

"Want to kick it up a notch?" Jasmine asked, reading his mind. Or his soul. He wasn't actually sure what the difference was." Maximize" The command from the book filled both of them, pushing the duo to their absolute limits of what they were capable of." Down" It would take him too much effort to just lift the goliath into the sky or make it fall sideways; the area required was too big and Nicholas wasn't that strong. Move it to the side? Easy.

The titan misstepped, and Jasmine capitalized, her hammer glowing silver and green as it slammed into the knee of their opponent, causing it to buckle and then collapse." Hesitate" The titan that had been reaching to stop its fall paused. Jasmine's hammer came down with the force of a meteor, crushing the goliath into the ground with a crunch that rattled the world nearly as much as the scream of hatred did.

"Think it has an ability besides being a big guy or nah?" Nicholas asked, not yet dropping his guard.

"The scream, maybe?" Jasmine suggested, as power swirled around her, the goliath wasn't dead yet. They could both feel that much, and they wouldn't get caught off guard. The moment it started to stand, she was going to hit it with everything she had.

In a fold of space Constellation rested, breathing hard. Keeping up with these battlefields was hard, just barely within his skill level, especially when he had been suppressing his own advancement. But nobody cared if one person slacked off, and it was easy to find somewhere to hide for the spatial manipulator. And now he wasn't even sure why he had been holding back. While he couldn't swallow his rage and deal with Retort, he had hoped he and Retribution could still connect, and the plan had been simple.

Go out to eat when she progressed, and then a few days alter do the same for him, and then he could convince her that Retort was dead weight. He knew Retort was stronger than him; Constellation wasn't an idiot, but he could tell that he was bad news. Nobody should resort to killing that fast if they wanted to be a hero. Regardless of what Retort told people, he was just like Constellation. Someone who didn't have any right to be a hero, or desire to do it, but had powers and was going along.

Constellation had just wanted to travel, and he had heard that getting to E rank was easy so at that point he could just travel the world. Lupine, his best friend dying because of Retort hadn't been part of the plan, so it was easy Constellation could be the monster to stop him. Nobody would know if a small spatial distortion hurt Retort in a fight. Which was part of the reason he was hiding.

He had been fighting in the same area, trying to keep up with their pace, and while he hoped it was because they were coming off a recent rank up but it had been impossible. Worse than that, they had been fighting oddly. It had clicked when the goliath-sized monster came out. They had been playing, fighting in a way they didn't usually. But when something that approached a worthy challenge for them showed up, they stopped and took their jobs seriously.

The feeling of the world warping as Retort spoke never got easier to handle. They were going to win; it was inevitable with those two. They wouldn't lose to something as simple as one rank up, but it gave Constellation a chance he had been waiting for. Still within the spatial pocket, his power built. Researching Retort had actually also given him the idea on how to progress his power; Rend was a spatial manipulator too.

He wouldn't go for the kill, not right now; there wasn't enough going on to think something like that would happen. But testing Retort's defenses or making him go on bed rest? That was fine. Once his attack had reached the proper level, he set his target to be Retort's hand, he always gestured with. It would bring Constellation a lot of joy if he stopped being able to do that for even a day. There.

"You think there's something we're missing?" Jasmine asked as they knocked down the titan once again. It was strong; it was massive, and most of all it was tough enough that it kept standing back up, but it wasn't that dangerous, not to them, especially with Jasmine able to match it. But Nicholas didn't have an eternal reservoir of power, and it wasn't like they had started the fight with him at full, so they either needed to go for the end soon or they would need to draw out whatever was lurking."

Ping" Nothing caught his attention about the goliath, but something near the train was dragging at his attention.

"Nothing for the goliath; we should go for the finish," Nicholas said, keeping his theory about the train quiet. Constellation had been reacting every time Nicholas used that word, so it was probably just him and whatever about the kid was annoying Nicholas's ability. Nicholas let power flow through the rings on his fingers, the silver and gold barrier flickering to life as he let it drain him. No use in being silly, and he was going to have to get closer for this one.

"We're really going for it?" Jasmine blocked a tail swipe that had been aiming for Nicholas as he flew in.

"Like you would rather we do anything else," Nicholas replied, leaning down as the sword he flew on flipped through the air, spiraling to the titan's head.

"Oh no, we have to do it, going to be so cool," Jasmine agreed. Nicholas didn't disagree, but just like die, this word required more setup than most, even if they were practically done. Nicholas could almost see the road to victory; they just needed a little bit more.

"Book is dropping the buff in five." Nicholas said. Nicholas let out a salvo of commands, each one quick and offensive, as Jasmine did the same, a whirlwind of emerald energy as she tried to break the goliath. Right before the buff dropped will be the moment Nicholas could use his newest toy, so hopefully they could complete the vision in time.

Silver and gold light sparked across his vision as an attack tried to punch through Nicholas's defenses, but he couldn't say what had done it; he was too busy trying to manage everything else. And he now knew where his trump card had to be used. Nicholas shot up past the lashing arms and tail of the titan as he aimed for the head.

"Keep him still two seconds," Nicholas said, communicating with Jasmine at the speed of thought. Jasmine responded through their bond with a pulse of determination. Nicholas pushed his perception harder. Nicholas looked his opponent right in the eye, and his barrier formed just in time to block the wave of sound that tore out of its mouth. That had been more dangerous than he had planned, but he drew out everything he could in the instance of time he had before it was time to strike.

"Here we go," Nicholas thought to Jasmine." Finisher"