I wake up early the following morning once again. Chloe’s still asleep, and after yesterday, I’ve got half a mind to sidle up next to her in the small cot and just hold her for a good long while until she wakes up and breakfast is ready. She’s comforted
ti and ti again as my [White Mage], and now that I have taken up the mantle as her [chanical Angel], it’s only good and fair and right that I do the sa to her.
I do so, trying to be careful not to wake Kristil or any of the other ladies sharing the room. For a mont, I hesitate, the creaking sound of the cot making
fear that the fabric will tear under our combined weight. But it holds, and I breathe a sigh of relief, releasing a bit of tension from my neck and shoulders as I pull her into my embrace.
To my surprise and delight, she spins around and faces , wrapping her arms around mine as well. And for a bit of ti, we hold one another, two girls, a healer and her angelic protector, feeling our way through this maelstrom called love, trying to figure everything out even as the world burns down around us. Not literally. At least not yet.
In fact, with the benefit of air conditioning, the second most wonderful of all human inventions, second only to the joyous wonders of indoor plumbing, the world imdiately around us actually feels nice. The sort of nice that one could all too easily take for granted and get comfortable in for so long that you’re stupefied and dumbfounded. Goddesses above, I beseech you. For one day, still these damned cultists, that Chloe and I might enjoy this brief respite in peace.
By chance or luck or fortune’s grace, my prayer is answered, and we get to savor one another’s presence until the sun has crested the eastern horizon and breakfast is prepared. Pancakes. Covered in cheap, off-brand, so-called ‘maple syrup’ that is all of zero-percent actual maple syrup. Tastes just like cheap breakfasts back ho.
My thoughts slip back to my mother, and then to my father. I break out in goosebumps imagining what might have happened to him. I dare not linger on the ill places my mind wanders, lest the irrational side of my brain start interpreting it as so sort of output of my new [Angelic Insight] Skill.
“So, any plans for today?” Chloe asks. “Or would you rather just head back to the back?”
She gives
a cheeky smile, making clear exactly what she’s implying with that statent. And it’s disarming how sincere her desire is. Almost overwhelming. But it’s not the right ti. Not until the cultist problem is over and satisfactorily dealt with and we’re back ho in Chloe’s— maybe now our— bed. That seems the right place and ti to take that final step.
I motion to the door, beckoning us outside to continue the conversation. Once we’re dressed in sothing decent, we make our way to the lobby and grab an empty table in the fluorescent-lit room to continue the conversation.
“I want to test my new class and Skills. And maybe gain so more of the latter. After that, I’d like to do so crafting.”
“Oh–”
“I’m sorry, Chloe.” I squeeze her hand a bit tighter. “After we repelled the Order’s last attack, I’m sure it’s only a matter of ti before they gather their forces for one final showdown. And it’s incumbent upon
to use the full extent of my abilities to maximize the chances that we co out of this alive and uninjured. That you co out alive and uninjured.”
“That better not be so stupid self-sacrificial bullshit about how ‘I’m going to take a bullet for you’, Sera. Because if you’re going to–”
I lean over and cut her off with a kiss. “Nope. What was that saying with all the p-words? Oh, yeah. Prior proper planning prevents piss-poor performance. I’m doing all this work not because I want to be so self-sacrificial martyr, but because I want to minimize the chances that I or anyone else has to.”
“Alright..”
“Well, hey there, you two,” Lindsey says as we make our way over to what has beco sothing of a makeshift practice field. “Didn’t even take a full twenty-four hours to recover?”
I chuckle. “Sorry, Lindsey, but I don’t think I’m ever going to be comfortable sitting behind a vanguard and resting in the relative peace of headquarters when I could be out here instead. It’s not who I am, and my decisions during my class-up are a confirmation of that.”
“Damn sha. You would have made a fine Ranger had you chosen that path.”
I lower my head. “It was offered to . But it just didn’t speak to
the way this one did.”
“Sera, I’m glad that you found sothing that did. But anyway, I’m guessing you ca here to practice your new abilities, not just loaf around. Any particular rules of engagent for today’s session?”
“Let’s say no projectiles, and I won’t use [Glyphcasting] other than enhancent spells. Too much risk of collateral damage, and I need to practice.”
“After all this ti, do you really think that little of ?”
“I don’t think little of you at all! Why would you assu that?”
“Because you an to spar with
at such a disadvantage. You should practice as though you are engaging in real combat. Chloe will be in charge of stopping the fight if she believes either of us are in danger beyond her abilities to heal.”
I smile. It’s even better this way for
as well. I guess I just hadn’t thought much about how it would feel for her. Makes
realize I still have a lot to think about with Chloe.
The two of us stand twenty paces apart. Even with my having reached a new, stronger class, Lindsey still stands so cool and calm and confident over our battlefield, as though she has nothing to fear even as I am now.. That whole [Ranger-Technician] class and finally getting a heaven-blessed [Identify] would be real nice right about now. But all I can do is trust in myself, in my new power, and in the Skills and Experience I’ve gained since the System arrived two and a half months ago.
I try to sheathe myself in the power of [Angel’s Grace]. Holy light radiating outward from my core to my skin, then suffusing into every part of my body, from my muscles and bones to my cartilage, lymph, blood, marrow, and everything else I can think of. And it does nothing, because I completely overlooked the fact that the spell can’t target myself.
“Don’t lose your focus!” Lindsey says. She sprints forward, attacking
with a vicious string of punches and kicks that puts
imdiately on the back foot. She’s a fair bit faster than before, showcasing the true depths of what her [Speed]-focused build can do.
But I’m able to keep up with her this ti around. My [Angelic Insight] informs
every ti she’s about to land a potentially match-changing blow and gives
subtle guidance on how I can dodge both it and the follow-up. But even with my [Agility] boosted twice, and then augnted further by my gear, I’m occasionally put into a situation where I can only shunt the attack to my forearm or shoulder or sowhere else more heavily defended.
[Cybernetic Body] seems to have a hidden passive effect of making moving my left arm feel completely instinctual. Not wholly unexpected, but it does save
those extra tenths of a second every ti I need to make a quick and unexpected response. More importantly, there’s a hidden effect with the [Wings of Icarus]. I can flap my wings, reducing the cost of maintaining flight upon them by about two-thirds. Better still, I can move them forward or backward to propel myself in the reverse direction, in accordance with the principles of Newtonian chanics.
Lindsey launches a haymaker directly at my torso. I fly backward to dodge. She smirks at , no doubt focused on the line of trees just behind
that will encumber
and my ten-foot wingspan far more than her nimble body. But at the last second, I abruptly shift my montum with an [Impulse] glyph, shooting directly toward the sky as fast as I can ascend.
Lindsey grants
no quarter, imdiately assailing
with half a dozen [Light Arrows]. Thanks to [Angelic Insight], her attempt at a blind-spot attack again fails, my body reacting before I even see the blow. And her next attack, an invisible beam akin to an [Etheric Arrow], also fails to hit , these eyes fully perceiving the attack from the instant she begins charging it.
She watches , her bow at the ready. No doubt she plans to get
to exhaust my [Ether] up here before continuing the fight down below. But I have more than enough ti and [Ether] regeneration to build an even more powerful [Glyphcasting] array than the ones I’ve used so far. And I quickly co up with the idea for a perfect counter to her wily, [Agility]-focused build.
I start with an inverted [Light] glyph as my base. I haven’t used [Darkness] much to this point; there are a few battles where blinding an enemy might have been effective, but oozes, for instance, probably sense their prey through tremorsense or so similar phenonon. But now, I expect it to be extrely effective against Lindsey’s Light-elent attacks. I just need to combine it with the [Material] glyph— perhaps [Solidify] would be more apt— to condense darkness into solid form and the [Snake] glyph that I’ve previously employed against one of the ooze creatures to twist [Lightning]. At the last second, I decide to include my ever-trusty [Impulse] as well to speed up the spell’s trajectory further.
My [Basic Glyph Manifestation] helps
form the ntal image of the array, constructing it all within my subconscious. Once I have the shape finalized, a process that takes about three seconds, I release the spell. A tendril of solid darkness erges from my right hand, shooting toward Lindsey in a blur.
She dodges, as I expected she would. I beckon my dark tentacle to wrap back around, and it obeys my command as fluidly as it would were it my own physical arm. The second attack is dodged as effortlessly as the first, as is the third. But as the fourth sets in, the wave of darkness starts to disorient her.
Finally, the mont I’ve been waiting for. Lindsey starts firing [Light Arrows] out of her palm, causing the light and darkness of our respective attacks to annihilate one another into wisps of harmless [Ether]. My [Ether] is down to a bit over twelve hundred, but I doubt Lindsey has even half of that remaining after her last attack.
And I use the opportunity to join in the fray myself, striking with everything I have. I can see Lindsey’s [Ether] core starting to fatigue, and her movents are a bit slower, a bit less polished.
With the ability to maintain flight in short bursts, I incorporate the occasional kicks and slides into our close-quarters engagent. This introduces another avenue of attack that Lindsey can’t easily defend. In terms of raw battle prowess, I have the initiative, and I need to press it. And I do, every punch designed to be as devastating as possible, including [Impulse] on occasion to disorient her. But I’m still unable to fully overco her defenses and superior technique. Her army training clearly included so sort of hand-to-hand combat or martial arts work.
She draws her dagger toward , and I respond with my own, pulling it to my hand to block her upward slash. She stabs down toward my abdon, and I’m able to force it away from my body.
She grunts and screams as she channels all of her remaining strength into a single punch imbued with her Light-energy. I activate [Etheric Armor] to tank the blow, the force too great to shunt or repel otherwise.
My defense buckles and my armor cracks against her attack. But thanks to a last-second movent a quarter-inch to the side, courtesy of [Angelic Insight], I’m able to avoid taking the attack head-on. It still manages to pierce through [Etheric Armor], dent my [Brigandine], and leave
with so pretty significant bruising in the ribs and my right breast, which stings like the nine hells.
But Lindsey is completely winded, unable to repel the blade that I hold to her neck. She lowers her head slightly and admits defeat.
“Impressive,” she says as I help her back to her feet. “Although I have to ask, why not continue with the dark tendrils? You should have known I wouldn’t have been able to dispel them a second ti.”
“I didn’t have the [Ether] either. I figured you were going to hit [Ether] strain after that last attack, and decided to try to finish the fight as soon as possible.”
“And if I had had an immunity Skill like you do?”
Shit. Of course she knows. Her [Identify] must’ve gotten even better at Level 32.
“Then I re-evaluate. You definitely don’t have as much [Ether] at your disposal as I do, and even if you have an immunity Skill, you’ll still pass out at 0 [Ether]. Then it’s a matter of attriting what you have left and try to get you to burn through your remaining stores faster than you can regenerate it. That’s the only way I’m defeating an opponent with more levels and a build better tuned for these sorts of battles.”
Lindsey smiles. “Good work, Sera. Shall we three go for a little walk then?”
I beckon Chloe, who joins the two of us as we head into the forested wilds a short distance away. As we head off, I get a small boon for my efforts on the practice field.
[Your [Angelic Insight (Rank II)] has upgraded to [Angelic Insight (Rank III)].]
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