141 His Design (1/2)

I got a notification. The assassin died, finally. I opened my status, poured my points into endurance, and I hit finalize all at once. Another deluge of power swelled through me. I leveled further, gaining a profound boon in my ability.

We turned towards Brim. He pushed himself off the ground, picking up his arcane spear. He shook his head, chunks of mirror and stone falling off of him. Elessah floated towards him, casting healing magic over him. Once again, his mirrors returned.

Elessah rejuvenated Frode's arm. He still hobbled on the ground, stark naked. Althea turned towards me,

”What happened to him?”

I grimaced, ”Yawm.”

She frowned back at me, ”Where is he? Torix said he was hurt bad. That's why we moved in.”

I raised an eyebrow, ”We?”

Behind Frode, his shadow loomed. From it, two arms lifted up from the shadow. A metal beak raised from the shade with circular, red eyes glaring at the Enigmatta. It opened its maw, drool leaking from it.

The hulking figure lifted out of the dark, silent as night. Claws brandished its hands, pitch black fire blazing along their length. It stepped forward, wrapping its massive hands around the neck of Frode. Even with physical touch, the monster made no noise.

The shadowy figure stepped forward, chunking the Frode at us. As Frode passed over Brim's head, he turned around. Elessah looked down as the living shadow leaped up. She used her antimagic, destroying the shadow covering the black figure.

Hod came out, his lanky form landing on her. He wrapped his spindly arms around Elessah, doing his best to hold her back. Hod squawked,

”Hod not understand why lady take shade form from Hod!”

Frode tumbled across the ground towards us before we charged him. Brim glanced at the both of us, looking at who to save. He pounded his heels into the dirt, reaching Frode before us. I jumped in front of Althea, taking on Brim's stab of his spear.

I clapped my hands over the energy bolt, a sizzling sound ushering from my hands. Althea weaved around me, slicing a biotic sword towards Brim's right side. Brim turned his spear sideways, blocking her strike. He freed my hands but cut the sharpened horn off of Althea's arm.

Without the spear in my way, I swatted the back of my left fist at Brim's head. The compact blow shook his head, and I rotated my mass on my heels. With a tectonic strike, I sent a quaking right straight into his jaw. A telekinetic bolt ripped across his jaw, his skull whipping with violence.

Althea growled as she sent a wild strike at Brim's side at the same time. Her hand pierced his silvery skin. Puncturing into his torso, Althea grabbed his ribs and jerked them back. With brutish strength, she tore out his bones.

I burned a third of my health in a torrent, sending two gravitational spikes. These wells reached Frode, pulling his legs apart. His hips dislocated, skin tearing near the joint. He landed on the ground, writhing in agony.

Brim ignored me, kneeing Althea's stomach. She vomited blood before Brim stepped sideways.

He elbowed her face, Althea's skull caving in. Althea rolled along the ground, dead and limp. I shot out a jab at Brim, but he leaned back, dodging the strike. Brim twisted his arcane spear, slashing my wrist. I stepped forward as he stepped back.

Without Elessah canceling my magic, I freed the full force of my abilities. Brim lashed his spear out at me, but I deflected with an empowered gravity stream. I shot out short strikes, countering his techniques. He lacked the same concision in his movements, letting me abuse his sloppy style.

As the fight progressed, I gained the upper hand on Brim. The Breakers slaughtered most of the eldritch, but a few remained, powering Event Horizon. The conduits with the legion bolstered me, giving me a surge in strength.

Brim overpowered me over the short term, but my uncompromising regen turned the tide. Wounds accumulated over the next minute, Brim's movements growing sluggish. Elessah banged at Hod's face, trying to knock him off. He held on tight, biting her with his armored beak.

From behind Brim, Althea revived. As she did, she cloaked herself, becoming imperceptible. Her camouflage deepened, being hidden even against my gravitational sense.

With an unspoken understanding, I pressed Brim back. I distracted him, amping up the intensity of our struggle. It left Brim and me vulnerable. At the culmination of our conflict, Elessah wormed her way out of Hod's grasp.

She cast her antimagic at me, nullifying my mana. Off instinct, I molded my armor over my head. Three bullets snapped against my head in rapid succession. Only one pierced through the top of my head, the others bouncing off. They still collided with my head like cinderblocks.

The metal casing over my head rang as my vision blurred. Brim stabbed the spear through my throat. He twisted as Althea appeared behind him once more.

With two massive, reformed arms, Althea clapped Brim's head. Her swollen, bulbous arms squashed his skull like a melon. He fell down, the spear dislodging from my throat. Althea cartwheeled through the air, her motion graceful.

She sliced off one of Brim's hands during her somersault. She grabbed the spear, using Brim's amputated hand to hold it. Frode tossed something at us. I stepped in front of Althea, blood gushing from my throat. I wrapped my arms around the grenade, shifting my armor over it.

The metallic sphere blasted out with a firebomb following an arcane pulse. As I absorbed the assault, Althea walked up over my back. She grunted as she heaved the energy spear. It zipped through the air, bolts of electricity arcing off it.

The spear impaled Frode, leaving a hole in his chest. Frode fell to his knees. With his fingertips, Frode probed the inside of his chest. He gasped. Blood drooled from his anglerfish face. He glanced backward at elessah.

The mage fired shot after shot at Hod. Hod was different now, however. He lacked the same clumsiness. Over the last few months, he mastered his eldritch form. He shifted across shadows, teleporting across the battlefield. No bolt hit his ethereal, changing shape. He dodged her antimagic now.

Like darkness come alive, Hod dashed between spots of shade. He lived there, hurling blobs of dusk at Elessah. She evaded, returning fire. With Hod keeping her busy, I charged Frode. My neck already healed.

Frode opened his dimensional storage. Behind me, Althea did the same. Pulling out the rifle I made her, The Omen, she generated a bolt of bone. With fluidity and precision, Althea loaded the slug, sliding it in place. She fired her biotic rifle, sheering Frode's only arm off.

I reached him. I threw a punch like throwing a baseball. As my punch landed, the impact destroyed Frode's noggin. The anglerfish's head turned inside out. From behind me, Althea sprinted forward. She jumped as I turned around to her.

She landed right above me, and I grabbed her with my arms. Like throwing a javelin, I flung Althea At Elessah. I molded Event Horizon away from the two of them as I ran with Althea.

She outraced me. Like a Valkyrie, Althea molded wings from herself. She zoomed over the ground towards Elessah. Elessah turned towards her. She raised a hand at Althea. Using an explosion of magic, I smacked her hand downwards.

Her pillar of light missed its mark. Elessah still controlled her flight. She jetted around, eluding Althea. On the other hand, Hod reached her. With his shade form intact, he gripped her arms with shadow claws. Hod pulled her down, crushing her against the side of a skyscraper.

Like a savage beast, he mauled her. Hod's massive form thrashed her. Elessah struggled, deflecting a few of the strikes. Before she regained composure, Althea fired off two bolts. Each one impaled an arm of Elessah. Pinned and unable to fend Hod off, she perished.

After a minute, she revived. It mattered little. She tried surviving once more. With bolts from Althea, Hod's mobility, and my control magic, she didn't stand a chance. Elessah was a support, not a duelist. Her sniper friend was nowhere to be found either. My guess, it abandoned her.

As Elessah died, the three of us stood over her corpse. I turned towards Althea and Hod. Both were shorter now, though Althea wasn't as slender anymore. My guess was my legacy gave her the constitution to make her look different.

If anything, she was even more attractive.

It could be me not seeing her for so long. Hod looked beefier too. His shade form made him mirror my own size and height, though not as broad. If I had to describe his new look in one word, it'd be menacing. Darkness claws and a rippling form does that.

I raised my hands, shouting at the top of my lungs,

”We fucking won. I can't believe it.”

Hod raised his hands, speaking a dark, booming voice,

”Hod like to say Hod had faith in Harbinger, but Hod not want to lie.”

His shade form dissipated, revealing the spindly bird form of Hod,

”Hod have no faith in Harbinger when Harbinger left. Hod glad Hod wrong.”

I reached out with an inkling of gravity, grabbing Althea. I pulled her to me, and she giggled as I wrapped my arm around her waist. She bit her lips, sexy and fiery. She locked her hands behind my neck, a bright grin gracing her lips.

With a mischievous grin, I lifted her up. I pulled back the helmet from my face,

”You're a sight for sore eyes.”

She pulled me in, kissing me. Soft and warm, I indulged myself for a second, enjoying the sensation. Having enhanced senses paid off in spades here, letting me enjoy the slightest touch.

Hod covered his eyes with a winged hand,

”Hod Interrupting Harbinger big moment. Hod apologize.”

He raised his other winged hand to his chin, ”But Hod wonder if Hod really ruin moment. Hod also wonder if Hod part of big moment.”

Hod nodded as if coming to a grand realization,

”Hod is, of course, part of big moment. Hard for moment to be big without Hod.”

I rolled my eyes while Althea laughed. I let Althea go, but she ran her hand down my arm as she dropped. We reached out our hands, our fingertips the last part to lose contact.Cheesy, yeah, but it's hard not to be after being away from each other for so long.

Althea's warmth turned cold after a few moments, ”Where's Yawm?”

I turned towards the skyscraper at the edge of the building. I pointed that way, ”He's there.”

She raised an eyebrow, ”Why?”

I scratched the back of my head, ”Uh...it's complicated?”

Althea walked past me, ”From what Torix told me, he's nearly dead. Come on, let's finish him.”

I jogged up, catching up to her,

”See, that's the thing. I don't know, hmmm, how do I say this...”

I waved my hands in front of me, ”It's...damn this weird to say...I don't know if we should kill Yawm.”

Althea turned towards me, ”There's no way...did he brainwash you or something?”

I shook my head, putting my palms to Althea, ”No, at least I don't think so. Let me know if what I'm about to say sounds crazy though.”

Althea let her hands flop against her sides, ”You already sound crazy.”

I sighed, ”Yeah, maybe I am.”

A thick, icy chill leaked into Althea's voice, ”You remember what that he's done, right? We can't give up this chance. He's weak, alone, and injured. We slit his throat now, or he'll slit ours.”

We hobbled over rubble, the broken city surrounding us.

”I've been talking to him for a while. He seems to regret what he did.”

Althea frowned, staring at the abandoned high rise,