Chương 21: Belligerent

The range of my Shadowstride was around 150 metres. Kach flattened an area of 300 metres. Outside that range, everything else was intact. But now it burned. Blue flames consumed everything. They were bigger than they had been when Moark was sacrificed, reaching high enough to touch the ceiling. The air had become hotter. My blood and sweat mixed with each other. Everything that burned turned into fumes, floated up, and concentrated in a single place.

All three of the Strange Toy's heads gathered in a single space, circled by blue flames. It was restoring itself. The wooden fragments scattered all over the ground flew and gathered there, merging to form that spotless wooden body. The cracks on the three heads filled themselves. The arms regrew—eight this time, and all of them armed with massive spinning blades thrice the size of before. Four blades cut into the ground. Strange Toy stood anew.

"Fucking bitch, get ready to get fucked." My vision was still red, and I couldn't see properly, but I noticed Lania's finger was still broken. Yet, she held a bottle in her hand. Was it a healing potion? If so, why hadn't she drunk it? Don't tell me she wants me to drink it and help her fight. I didn't wanna. No matter what I did, I couldn't win. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't do shit. My eyes traced the floor and found Pyiari lying there, still unconscious.

I remembered her face when she asked me to take her out of here. I remembered the promise. I remembered my deal with Lania. If not me, then who was going to save them? I forced myself straight up, and coughed a mouthful of blood. My head hurt. My chest hurt. All the potions had worn off, and now I was suffering the aftereffects. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision. It didn't help at all. All the blades on Strange Toy spun with great speed. It moved forward, cutting through the floor.

Tearing through the solid ground and churning it into gravel, it sped up and swung all four of its arms at Kach. I couldn't see her face right then, but I was sure she was grinning. The black sludge on her body moved with blistering speed. The ground trembled, and with a single burst, she slipped past the arms to Strange Toy's underbelly and punched it, blowing a massive hole right through it. The heat increased. More pillars of blue flames emerged, and the hole started filling itself.

Lania was actively healing her toy while forcing it to fight. Kach hadn't expected that. Two arms came at her from each side. She was fast, so she caught them and turned them into dust. But just before disintegrating, the blades sliced her palms open. Black sludge bled from them nonstop. The Strange Toy sped forward, taking a dramatic turn to stand between Kach and me. The two broken blades were back again. The Strange Toy was bigger than before. From between its legs, I observed Kach.

She was drinking the black sludge falling from her own palms in pure ecstasy. Fucking madman. The Strange Toy extended one of its arms toward me. Using the flat of the blade like a plate, it offered up the bottle. It was Second Wind. It wasn't a healing potion. I looked at Lania; a drop of blood fell from her nose. She was pushing her limits to heal her toy while it fought. I had to do the same. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

I ignored the pain and took a step forward, then another. I grabbed the bottle and wet my throat with it. It didn't taste like anything—or maybe I had just lost my sense of taste. Regardless, I felt the magika gathering in my body and filling me up. I looked back at Kach. She was licking her hands, grinning, staring at me with ravenous hunger. I focused on Shadowstride, growing hyper-aware of myself, the Strange Toy, and Kach. My shadow strengthened my body, lessening the pain a little.

But the shadows in the room were nowhere near enough for me to be useful. The Strange Toy cut its own arm apart, grabbed it, and smashed it into the ground. It stood straight like a pillar, casting a wide shadow against the blue wall of fire. Even more machines burned, their fumes traveling to Strange Toy to regrow the severed limb. Lania understood how my skill worked. She was creating more shadows for me. Kach hesitated a moment, letting us set the field. Was she afraid of what I did before?

Afraid of me beating her that way? Or did she just find it annoying? Whatever it was, her patience didn't last. She lunged at me. She didn't try the move from before; either she couldn't use it again, or she just wanted to enjoy the fight. I was no longer fast enough to track her movements with my eyes, so I closed them. The world shifted from red to black. I focused wholly on Shadowstride. There were four shadows on the field: mine, the Strange Toy's, the arm which now stood like a pillar, and Kach's.

She was rapidly approaching—no, she was already here. But because the light source was behind Kach, her shadow arrived a split-second ahead of her. The moment her shadow touched mine, I vanished. I emerged on top of the Strange Toy, right in the shadow cast by its head. I needed more shadows, but Lania knew that before I even told her. Two arms cut off another two and slammed them into the ground.

The process repeated itself at blinding speed; within half a minute, there were a dozen of them forming a wall behind us. During all this, Kach had struck the Strange Toy a dozen more times, which Lania also had to heal. Blue light crept through the gaps between the dozen pillars, casting long shadows across the ground. Through them, I was aware of exactly where Kach was. I hopped through the shadows and struck her thrice, using the sharp wooden shards created by the breaking body.

It was hurting her, and the speed of the black sludge on her body was slowing down. She was getting tired. It looked like her superpower consumed a massive amount of mental energy, because for someone who was number one in the world, her stamina in that aspect was really terrible. It was good for me, because the only thing keeping me standing right now was sheer willpower. I just wanted it to end. The blades spun, and Strange Toy sped forward.

I hopped beside Kach to distract her, vanishing a moment after showing my head. She struck the ground where I had been, and gravel flew. Strange Toy swung its arm, catching her in the side. The rotation of the blade actively fought the spin of Kach's superpower, making it look stuck. But the sharpness did its work, biting inches deep. Kach struck the arm and freed herself. I emerged from her shadow, catching her off-guard, and swung a sharp chunk of the broken wood at her, disappearing the very next moment.

She was battered and drawing her last breaths, yet the grin never left her face. One last strike and it ends. Sorry, Kach. You sacrificed yourself for Cici, but right now I have no choice. I am not strong enough to capture you and find a remedy for what you had become. The choice was obvious. The Kach I knew was from the text on my screen—what stood in front of me was a monster. I sank into my own shadow. Strange Toy drove towards her, breaking off a chunk of its own blade and throwing it at her.

It wasn't aimed at Kach, and she knew that. She traced its path to intercept me, but I wasn't there. For the number one in the world, she was pretty dumb. I emerged from the shadows and grabbed the flying shard of the blade in mid-air. The momentum pulled me forward. I altered my trajectory slightly and went for her neck. With great agility, she turned and grabbed my arm. It didn't spin. The black sludge on her body didn't spin. She was completely out of mental power to use her superpower anymore.

The Strange Toy struck her with one of its spinning blades, aiming to behead her. She grabbed that too, stopping it with the sheer strength of her grip. But what about the rest of the arms? Three other arms came striking down, splitting her open from neck to chest, severing her upper and lower body, and tearing her left from right. She split into six pieces, her hand still gripping mine. Even as the blades came down at her, and even though she knew she was going to die, she hadn't stopped grinning.

Truly belligerent.