by David Petrie
Farn eyed him suspiciously before figuring out what he was doing. It probably wasn’t a good idea to let on that their Breath Mage had an artificial god hiding in her brain.
“Oh yeah, sorry, had to use that one. It took a lot more out of me that I expected,” she added, explaining away the ability she’d used as a contract. It was half true. Berwyn didn’t need to know that the contract was supposed to kill her.
Kira stood and offered a hand to help her up. Considering the fairy’s lack of balance, Farn wasn’t sure she was the best person the reach for. She reached up regardless, making sure not to put too much weight on the little mage. Kira made it worse by overcompensating, nearly falling backward once Farn was on her feet. Fortunately, Max was there to catch her in an embrace that left her clinging to his chest in a way that looked a little too romantic.
“That‘s awkward,” Ginger commented as she stepped down the stairs on to the floor.
“I picked the right house to invite out tonight.” Berwyn appeared on the platform behind Ginger, taking in the destruction that had been delivered upon the Catacombs. His vision drifted back to Kira. “I was a worried, though. Are you okay?”
She started to step away from Max, only to stumbled back into his arms a second later.
“We should probably get her out of here and sober her up.” Farn jumped to her other side to help.
The fairy responded by letting out a seemingly random laugh at nothing in particular followed by a drunken, “You’re pretty,” and a boop to Farn’s nose.
Berwyn gave a somber smile. “You may be right there. Tonight might be beyond salvage. I’ll take care of things here. Hopefully, I can keep us all from getting banned from the Catacombs.”
Farn cringed at the wreckage around them, noticing for the first time the number of players peering down from the higher platforms. She was just glad that she didn’t have to deal with the aftermath. “Thanks.”
“It’s the least I can do. I should be able to blame everything on the Winter Moon anyway, although I’m not sure why Amelia never showed herself.”
“It was probably just a poke.” Max passed Kira off to Farn. “I bet she was just checking your defenses.”
Berwyn seemed to consider it. “That would mean she’s planning something else for another time.”
“Probably, but we can worry about that after we get this one’s drunk ass out of here.” He held his finger in front of the fairy’s face and swept it from side to side. “You think you can manage a teleport out of here.”
She followed his fingertip with her eyes, then nodded and opened her spellcraft menu without bothering to ask where they were going. Ginger and Max stepped in close.
Farn watched as Kira spun the glyphs in seemingly random order and swiped down to activate the spell.
Then just as the orange shell of the teleport solidified around them, Kegan’s voice erupted over the house-line. He sounded frantic as if racing to get the words out.
“Get out of there now! Our cover’s blown!”
Chapter Forty-Six
Corvin lay on his back, minding his own business and working his way through the last level of Altered Beast on his third-party emulator.
Kegan slumped against the window of their hiding place, the same narrow rooftop gable where they’d waited all week. The crystal pyramid filled the view behind him.
“So now we’re just waiting here while everyone else has the time of their lives down in the Catacombs.” The Leaf drove his chin into his palm. “I mean, I like clubbing, or at least, I did at one point in my life.”
“Ugh, no thanks.” Clubbing was the last thing on Corvin’s mind.
“Don’t be so quick to exclude yourself. It’s never too late for a social life.”
“Not really the dance club type.”
“I guess not. There’s no need to go out when you have a cute little teen fawning all over you.” Kegan waggled his eyebrows, referring to the blatant crush that Piper had developed on Corvin during his tutoring.
“What the hell, man?” Corvin paused his game in horror. “She’s sixteen, not to mention very illegal.”
Kegan laughed a little too loud. “Relax, I’m kidding.”
“I would hope so.” Corvin added, “I have enough to worry about with that whole situation. I don’t need you making it worse.”
“Plus, Ginger would probably kill you.”
“Yeah, I don’t intend on finding out. Piper’s a nice girl, but obviously, she needs to find a guy her own age.” He laid back down and un-paused his game. “Any advice for me on that front? I’m not really experienced with rejecting the advances of young ladies.”
“You should probably just tell her the truth and let her down easy.”
Corvin froze immediately.
It was good advice, but the problem was that Kegan hadn’t said it. Instead, it had come from Aawil who was leaning against the other end of the narrow hall.
The faunus sat, casually picking at one of her fingernails.
Corvin stared at her, equally surprised to see the Coin as well as to have heard her speak. Aawil hadn’t said a word from what Max had told him. Actually, the only reason he recognized was due to her horns. They were thick and curled forward to frame her head in a way that made her look more like a dragon than the ram.
“What?” She gestured with a finger. “I’m not mute, you know.”
The three of them sat in silence for a long moment, none of them moving until finally, Kegan’s eye widened. He slapped one hand over his house ring to cover its emblem.
Aawil responded with a grin that said it all. It was too late. She’d seen everything.
Corvin fumbled with his emulator, trying to get up. They couldn’t let her escape or send a message. The moment she did, it would be all over.
Kegan reached for an arrow, but she was faster. Her arm shot out, firing a grappling line from her wrist. He ducked the barbed spike as it buried itself into the side of the window behind him with a sharp crack. She retracted the line as soon as it dug in, using it to close the gap before they had time to react.
Corvin was still fumbling with his emulator when she landed on his chest. The line continued to retract as she hooked her knees under his arms and dragged him across the narrow space into the wall. His head rammed into Kegan, knocking the Leaf through the window and on to the roof outside.
Corvin hit the bottom of the low sill hard. His head whipped backward so that he hung outside with an upside-down view of the shining, crystal pyramid. He pulled himself back inside to find the faunus still on top of him. The horned Coin straddled him in a way that would have seemed erotic if she hadn’t been trying to kill him.
Aawil flicked her dagger out of the sheath at her lower back using only one finger. It twirled through the air for an instant before she snatched it with one hand. It was a plain looking weapon with a ring at the base of its handle. She slipped her thumb through the brass circle and gripped the weapon backward as she drove it down toward Corvin’s chest.
He grabbed her wrists in defense. There wasn’t time to draw his sword, especially since he had removed it from his belt and left it on the floor a few feet away.
Corvin let out a rasping breath. She was only using one hand but still had the strength to make him struggle even when he used both of his. If she chose to use her other hand, she could delete him easily.
“Get off my friend!” Kegan fired two arrows at her head from outside.
Aawil tilted her head, dodging the first without taking her eyes off Corvin. Her free hand blurred to catch the second. She flipped the shaft in her hand and immediately stabbed it down through Corvin’s shoulder.
He saw his health drop ten percent on his wrist as he struggled to hold her back. Pain and numbness radiated through his shoulder.
Kegan loosed two more arrows.
She followed the same pattern as before, dodging the first and catching the second, only to stab Corvin with it in the same shoulder. He let out growl.
“Damn it, Kegan, stop giving her weapons!”
The Leaf took the hint and stopped shooting, opting to rushed her instead. “Catch this!” He plowed into her shoulder first, knocking her off his partner.
They tumbled to the floor, Kegan scrambling to disarm her.
He failed.
Aawil rolled to get behind him, only to curl her arm around his neck. With her other hand, plunged her dagger toward his heart. Keagan thrust his hand up fast enough to block, only succeeding in becoming her new captive.
“This isn’t. How. I envisioned this,” he choked out.
Corvin snatched the two arrows from his shoulder and tossed them to the side. Now that the Coin was off of him, he lunged for his katana, passing the pair struggling on the floor. His fingertips only brushed the grip of his weapon before she hooked her foot around his ankle. Aawil yanked his leg out from under him, sending him toppling back down.
He scurried back, too close to her legs, not realizing how dangerous they were. Her ankles snapped around his neck before he knew what was going on. Then through an impressive display of contortion, she juggled him up to her thighs where she held him like a vice.
Corvin let out a muffled yell, his face smooshed into her, well, parts that he wasn’t exactly used to being close to. Which, again, might have been erotic if she hadn’t been trying to crush the life out of him. It didn’t help that she kept thrusting his head into Kegan’s rear in an awkward humping motion.
“Oh come… on… move… your ass!” Corvin shouted in rhythm with her movement.
“No, you get your head out of my ass!” Kegan complained back as he struggled to stop the faunus from stabbing. He pushed with all his might against her. “How are you this strong?”
She didn’t answer.
It was a valid question since physical strength didn’t actually change based on a player’s level. Their weapon damage did, but that was it. Thinking about it, there was no way that she should have been able to grapple with two players at once without breaking a sweat, unless she was somehow that strong in the real world and the system was using that as a basis for her avatar. For that to be true, she would’ve needed to be something entirely inhuman.
There had to be some kind of exploit in play.
Either way, there wasn’t time think about it now, not as long as Corvin wanted to keep his head from being shoved halfway up his partner’s rear.
He caught a glimpse of something on the floor within reach. He didn’t care what it was, just that it was something they could hit her with. Corvin reached out and flicked it with his fingers so that it slid up to Kegan.
The Leaf braced one arm against his captor and grabbed for the object, catching hold with his fingertips just enough to drag it toward him. With a push against the wall to gain some leverage, he cracked her in the head with it.
Aawil didn’t seem to care, especially since it had only connected with one of her horns. Kegan growled in frustration as he followed the attack with several rapid whacks.
Aawil let out an annoyed squeak as he struck her in the eye with the corner of what turned out to be the leather-bound book that housed Corvin’s third-party emulator. In the process, he also bumped the un-pause button, filling Corvin’s ears with the background music of the sixteen-bit classic, Altered Beast.
Aawil let go of them both but not before slapping the third-party device out of Kegan’s hand and sending it flying into the wall. The emulator bounced, landing directly in front of Corvin as he finally got free from the grip of the Coin’s thighs. He let out a disappointed grumble finding his game had been un-paused in the middle of his character’s beast transformation, just in time to die instantly.
“I was on the last level!” He pinned his ears back.
Aawil hopped back to the window before either of them could get back to their feet. Kegan didn’t waste time, grabbing Corvin’s sword from where it lay and sliding it back to his partner.
He caught it.
For a moment, the Coin looked like she might flee, which was something they couldn’t let happen. She had seen their house rings. If she escaped, it wouldn’t be long before she messaged Nix.
They had to buy time.
Fortunately, the Coin didn’t flee. Instead, she rushed forward, jumping to the side and kicking off the wall to weave around Kegan so that she could take a swing at Corvin.
He tried to draw his sword in the narrow space but ran out of room. The weapon’s sheath hit the wall before exposing more than a few inches of blade. It was enough to block. He immediately rotated his blade, still in its scabbard, and cracked her in the ribs with the blunt end. It wasn’t a true hit, but she seemed surprised nonetheless.
He smiled.
So did she.
Her body slipped to the side just as Kegan fired three arrows at her back.
Corvin let out surprised, “Yar!” as they flew at him instead. He deflected one and pressed himself against the wall to dodge the others. Damn! We have to get out of this hall. The space was too small to fight in.
Kegan must have realized the same thing because he turned and ran toward the window, hopping through it as the Coin pursued him. She must have decided to kill him first so she could focus on Corvin without worrying about being shot in the back.
The Leaf turned and fired three more arrows, bellowing a frustrated growl when she blocked them all without flinching.
She darted to the side and fired her wrist line a second time. It hit a gabled section of roof behind him, splitting the ceramic tile. In an instant, she was on him, using the line to launch herself. She tucked her body with her knees in front like a cannonball.
Without time to dodge, the Leaf took the hit square in the chest, throwing him in a diagonal path down the roof. The incline wasn’t steep, but with the added momentum, he slid straight toward the edge.
Corvin watched in horror as his partner vanished over the side. There was nothing he could do. Aawil turned her attention back to him, looking pretty damn pleased with herself.
He would have rushed her, but a glance at Kegan’s health demanded he be cautious. Instead, he crept back as if he didn’t want to risk falling off the edge himself.
The Coin twirled her dagger around her thumb for a moment before catching it backward and readying it in front of her. Clearly, it was meant to be intimidating.
She darted toward him, swiping low at his leg as soon as she was in range. He blocked it, but she streaked around his back and swiped again, this time at his spine in an upward arc. He stepped forward to dodge, seeing through the move. A feint followed by a critical. It was what he would have done.
“Nice try.” He flipped his blade back and thrust it blindly at where he thought she would be.
The attack caught her off guard, forcing her to deflect with her hand since her dagger was out of position. She back-stepped away, her palm glowing with a bright red stripe.
This time, she looked a little less pleased with herself.
Corvin didn’t let up, keeping his attacks quick and using only the tip of his sword to poke or swipe at her while staying out of range of her knife. Unfortunately, she blocked everything with little effort. In fact, she was fast enough to deflect his strikes all day, which would have been fine since he was only trying to buy time. Although, that would have been boring, and as Corvin was beginning to learn, Aawil didn’t do boring.
Without warning, she slapped his blade away hard with her dagger, sacrificing her positioning to create an opening. She moved in regardless. Corvin’s mind raced to see what she had planned—another dagger, an item, a bomb?
Then she bit him.
He yelped in surprise as she clamped down on the meat of his shoulder, letting out a savage snarl. The pain was dull, and the damage was negligible, but it felt worse due to the shock of what had happened. Corvin stumbled but shifted his weight just in time to kick off one of the roof’s gabled peaks and shove her away.
Aawil tumbled back, sliding to a stop by using he
r dagger for traction and splitting the tiles in her wake. She looked up, her eyes wild, a smile growing across her face. No, not a smile, she was bearing her teeth. A low growl rumbled from inside her.
From there, the fight changed completely.
Corvin ran, turning to block a hit only to have her use the momentum to slip past him. He spun just in time to deflect another lunge for his throat. He swung back with a Phantom Strike that she dodged. The Coin landed to the side on all fours like an animal before kicking off, running at him at full speed. Again, she slipped past him, this time taking three strides right up the side of a window and leaping off. The dull shine of her dagger streaked around her as she cut the air with a high-pitched whistle.
Sparks flew as he blocked.
They both alternated between running and clashing until they had traveled all the way to one of the corners of the palace, its obelisk glowing brightly as they darted around it. She pushed him back, leaving him nowhere to go but up.
Fine, this is happening, he thought as he sprinted up the side of the crystal pyramid at a forty-five-degree angle. Turning near the top, he dropped to his knees and slid back down, his sword ready to strike the snarling woman chasing him on all fours.
Aawil blocked and shoved, sending them both in opposite directions, sliding halfway down the pyramid before stopping.
Corvin gasped for air and leaned on his sword as he got back to his feet, standing wide to account for the steepness of the structure. For a moment, he became aware of the ridiculousness of what was happening, battling an enemy atop one of Noctem’s palaces. His heart raced. He kind of wished that Max had been there to see.
Corvin pushed aside the thought. It was time to use his trump card. He ducked low to hide his face and ran, his boots squeaking against the crystal surface beneath him. Aawil was sure to block. He was counting on it.
The clang of steel against steel reverberated through the night air as Corvin locked eyes with her between the razor-sharp edges. His eye patch dangled around his neck, revealing the bright yellow basilisk eye staring her in the face.