We're on a tir.
I know this because the Lant's neck hasn't healed from the Firmant infusion. She's still bleeding, and bleeding profusely I suspect it's so combination of Firmant and pure willpower that's keeping her conscious right now. Her neck is ruined, so my hope is that we don't have to worry about the song.
We just need to outlast her. That's the key. Survive until she bleeds out.
The Lant if that's what she still is doesn't open with her song this ti. She glowers down at us, a certain purity of hatred gleaming in her eyes
She flickers.
ntal Acceleration screams.
Barrier!
I try to step out of the way even as shimring blue flickers to life around . Firestep and Triplestep still swirl around my feet, so when I dodge it's with an impossible speed, and yet the Lant smashes into with a force that sends spinning. It's only the Second Wind Firmant still running through that keeps intact and conscious. It gives a certain taphysical weight, and that weight throws off Lant just slightly, forcing a portion of her own strike to rebound against her.
For a mont, she wavers. For a mont, she seems stunned that I'm not dead, shredded into little pieces of gore on her claws. She stares at in sothing like disbelief.
I activate Temporal Fragnt.
Whatever resonance the skill has with the Lant still isn't quite responding to , but the center of the town is filled with a fragnt of from the previous loop so of the spars I had with Tarin and the first battle against the Lants both took place here. It's the perfect place for to spring a trap, and the upgrade from Echo to Fragnt seems to let call forth not one but two copies of myself a fact I imdiately exploit.
From one side of the Lant, an echo bursts to life, fragnted blue collapsing into a visible copy of my body. It swings a fist towards the Lant, roaring in impotent anger. I know for a fact the echo won't quite reach the harpy; it's improperly placed, and the harpy isn't standing in the exact sa spot as before.
That's not important, though. It's a distraction for the echo that flares to life behind her.
Just like before, with Tarin.
I don't need either echo to kill her I don't expect that to happen in the first place. I wasn't nearly powerful enough to even hurt this version of the Lant last loop. But the ga we're playing is one to keep her stalled, and in that way, both of my echoes serve perfectly.
The first echo is blasted back by a swipe of her wing; the force of the wind it generates blows that fragnt of myself into the air, and I wince at the ntal snap that accompanies the generated paradox. The one behind her startles her, taking advantage of her inability to sense Firmant; it barrels into her with force. Not enough to bowl her over, maybe, but enough for her to spin around and react in pure instinct, kicking into the echo's body with enough strength to cave its chest in.
I wince a bit at the sight. It's astoundingly real. It's not just a ghost of that evaporates as soon as it's struck I get to watch as it collapses, bright blue blood oozing out of it, ribs clearly broken and heart crushed.
Then it fades away. After it makes sure to properly traumatize .
Not that I have the luxury of thinking about the nightmares that sight will give .
Tarin and Mari are both staying back, eyeing the Lant warily; they've both heard what I said about what it can do, and they know not to rush in blindly. There's no doubt they see the sa thing I do, though it can't use its song with its throat so thoroughly destroyed. Mari can't defend against any of its strikes, which ans it's up to Tarin's more speed-focused Firmant to distract the Lant.
I'd rather not involve either of them if I can help it, but I have to be careful about how I play this, too. I'm already feeling the strain of using Firmant as freely as I have been the nurous skills I've been using are undoubtedly easier to stack than slamming Second Wind three tis as I did a couple loops ago, but it's still not advisable.
And at the end of the day, if I die, it's over for all the crows. Tarin and Mari aren't disposable, but they know the stakes as well as I do, and I see the glint of hardened determination in their eyes.
It parallels the hatred in the harpy's.
She seems to know what the stakes are, too or maybe I'm projecting. Where all the harpies before have focused on the crows over , this ti, she targets and alone. Mari's attempt to get in her way doesn't even faze her, and Tarin can't do a thing to stop her; both crows are blown back as the Lant flickers again towards , legs outstretched in a flying kick.
Temporal Fragnt.
It's morbid, but a copy of appears in front of , made of Firmant emulating flesh and bone. The harpy tears it apart in a second, but it bleeds her montum better than a Barrier can, even if the paradox-backlash is worse for .
Better a headache than death, I think. By the ti the blue-tinted gore has faded away, I'm out of her sight, running to lure her into the path of another fragnt; Firestep and Triplestep are fading, and I'm hesitant to refresh them just yet.
What I have is enough. Just barely. She's beginning to flag, I think her skin is paler than before, and her lungs pull in air through her ruined throat in ragged gasps. She gives a harsh, bloody smile, and I don't have ti to think about why I throw myself out of the way just as she flickers again.
I need a plan. A better plan than this, relying on instinct and ntal Acceleration to let dodge out of the way; I'm barely keeping up as it is. I feel like the answer has to be in Temporal Fragnt, in the strange resonance I feel between the skill and the Lant, but focusing on that skill needs ti
Barrier!
and the Lant, rather predictably, isn't giving that ti.
A trio of Barriers form in front of as I layer the skill on top of itself, and Firmant Manipulation on top of it concentrates their defensive power into a single plane rather than a wraparound shield; the Lant hasn't shown the ability to circle around mid-charge, and I'm trying to conserve my limited Firmant. The headache is starting to form in earnest, now, and that along with of the lack of ti I have to focus, along with the need to optimize myself defensively
The Lant slams into my barriers, using her wings to stay afloat; her first kick cracks the first barrier, but she doesn't stop there. The second kick shatters the first barrier and breaks the second, all in one go, pushing back.
I have a realization.
I'm playing this too safe. I don't need to optimize myself defensively; that's pushing closer and closer to getting killed. What I need to do is avoid dying. That ends the raid. Anything short of death I can handle. Have handled. Seven loops haven't made completely immune to the thought of pain or death, but they've certainly helped.
The third kick breaks the last barrier
Crystallized Strength
and I grab her by the leg.
Even with ntal Acceleration, I barely manage it the impact shatters the bones of my arm, Second Wind having long since faded away, and I have to bite back the scream of pain that follows. I pull up, rotating her just enough that her wings fail to keep her afloat, and as she crashes into the ground I step forward and crush my intact fist into her already-broken nose.
She flails wildly, battle-instinct replaced with the need to get away from the source of pain, and I take a mont to focus on my skill.
Temporal Fragnt.
This ti, whatever piece of the harpy that resonates with the skill responds, and the world fades away.
Let this give enough ti. I just need to survive until she bleeds out.
"A-are you okay, sis?"
It's the voice of a little girl. I see her waddling into view, tiny wings flaring out and throwing her off-balance, forcing her to course-correct. She's very determinedly wandering over to...
...oh. Oh no.
Right at my feet or taphorical feet, seeing as I don't have a body in whatever dream-state I'm in is an older harpy, maybe nineteen years old to the little girl's five. She's collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood, and one of her arms is torn off.
"S-sis?"
This is the harpy I've been fighting. Not the older woman lying on the ground, but the younger one, the little girl staring with wide eyes at her older sister. I see the tears starting to gather in her eyes. She's not quite old enough to understand not entirely but she knows this is bad. This is the first ti her older sister hasn't responded to her imdiately.
Above them both, a figure scoffs. I can't make it out in the vision. It's shadowed, almost like it's censored, or maybe irrelevant to the mory. I do see the way the figure smiles, and I feel an unfamiliar rage boil through .
It's not my own, for once, though I feel my own anger rise in sympathy, and for a mont, I understand.
And then the fragnt fades.
I don't know what I just did. The harpy beneath is staring up at with wide, glossy eyes, and it takes a mont to realize that she's dead; the fragnt caught both of us up within it, and she bled out in the ti that mory took to play. It's almost... anticlimactic, though I let the relief pour through as I notice the words in the air.
[ You have defeated the Grief of a Lost Sister (Rank C)! 20 Strength credits. 17 Durability credits. 31 Reflex credits. 40 Speed credits. 20 Firmant credits. ]
[ You have defeated the raid Lost Harpies (Rank E)! Bonus 40 Firmant credits awarded based on performance. ]
"We did it," I say, a little numbly.
It's a victory, I know it is. But my mind is spinning, and I'm suddenly aware that that use of Temporal Fragnt whatever it was tore out the rest of my Firmant and wrung dry. I'm empty, and without my Firmant, my body is falling apart.
It's not like I took no injuries in that fight. There's no part of my body that isn't bruised. My left arm is shattered. I have internal injury upon internal injury, most likely, though I can't say what exactly is bleeding.
All I know is that without Firmant, both Tough Body and ntal Acceleration aren't working, and everything feels... slow. My body feels like it's falling apart, probably because it is. I can't help but wonder where Tarin and Mari are.
To my right, I hear quiet sobbing.
No.
I try to turn my head. It takes monuntal effort, and a small, stupid part of tries to activate Second Wind, but nothing happens; I'm entirely drained. Instead I have to turn my head as slowly as I can, even as I feel my body disintegrating beneath .
Mari's kneeling down, holding Tarin's body, and quietly crying over it. She seems to sense my gaze, sohow, and I don't know how, but the crow sohow musters the energy to look at and say thank you for everything.
I don't understand how she can say that, when she's holding her own dead husband. She even looks like she wants to co over to and comfort . That's... kind of her. That's almost unbearably kind of her.
I hope, with every fiber of my being, that Tarin will be okay when ti resets.
[ You have died. ]
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