“That’s quite the meaty weapon for a summoner,” Evelyn observed, still advancing slowly toward Alex. “And you were using a pretty big sword in your fight against your friend. Don’t you think you’re splitting your attention a bit too far? It’s always better to focus on being excellent at a single thing than splitting yourself to be just okay at a bunch.”
“I agree,” Alex said, baring his teeth in a grin as he reached deep within himself. “But who said anything about splitting my attention? I’m perfectly focused.”
“Oh?” Evelyn asked, a hint of amusement in her voice. “On what?”
“Winning,” Alex replied.
Princess rose up behind the heavily armored woman, her huge sludgy hands raising into the air above her and coming crashing down on her back two black streaks. There was a loud bang. The strike drove Evelyn a foot down into the sand, embedding her in the ground like a nail.
Evelyn’s sword flashed out. It carved through Princess’ body easily, tearing out the other side in a spray of black fluid. And, in reward for Evelyn’s efforts, she received another blow to the side of the head. It didn’t do anything. Evelyn barely even seemed to notice it.
But she definitely didn’t miss the fact that Princess hadn’t been any more bothered by getting split in two than than Evelyn had by getting slammed around like a chew toy.
“Neat,” Evelyn said. She pulled her feet out of the ground, flicking her sword several times and dicing Princess apart before the large monster could even try to dodge. “But not nearly enough. And you should really save those kinds of lines for the end of the fight, not the start.”
She continued toward Alex, picking up speed slightly. Evelyn was still being cautious about his other two monsters. She hadn’t seen what they did yet… and Alex didn’t have any plans of revealing that until he needed to. Her hesitation was likely worth more than any attack that Spark or Glint could do in isolation.
But no need not to get her even more off balance.
Alex sent a quick mental command to Glint. And then, without a word, the Glasmir darted away from him and headed for Claire and Henry.
“Come on,” Alex said. “You’re talking a lot for someone with more experience. I thought you’d be trying to wrap this up already.”
“And you’re awful cocky for someone with nearly no experience at all. Sending one of your monsters away as a summoner in a solo fight? Is that from a misplaced sense of chivalry or are you really that bold?” Evelyn let out a laugh. “You better not come complaining when—”
Alex drew on the Singularity Core.
His anchor tore free from the ground in a streak of white and a spray of sand to shoot toward Evelyn. Her eyes widened.
And, unlike every other attack he’d sent in her direction, she dodged.
The anchor hurtled past her and slammed into the sand where she’d been with a heavy whump. Alex grinned.
Gotcha. So there are limits to her armor… and she thinks the anchor might be enough to break through them.
Evelyn burst into motion, charging at Alex parallel to the chain linking him to his anchor.
The Singularity Core turned over again. Alex yanked the anchor back in the way it had come, pulling it straight in Evelyn’s wake. She realized what was happening an instant before the heavy weapon slammed into her and spun, bringing her shield to bear.
A loud bang echoed through the arena. Evelyn stumbled, and the anchor flew to crash into the sand several feet away from her. Evelyn recovered quickly, continuing to charge toward Alex — but this time, splitting off at an angle to avoid letting the anchor be right behind her.
Alex activated the Singularity Core again. He pulled the anchor back, but he didn’t try to hit Evelyn with it. Instead, he pulled the deadly weapon in a wide arc around him. He kept his hold of the Singularity Core, spinning the massive weapon over his head in a howling orbit.
Evelyn skidded to a stop just outside of his range.
“Something wrong?” Alex called. “I thought you were going to attack!”
“That weapon does not belong in a summoner’s hands,” Evelyn called. “How the hell can you swing something like that around?”
Princess slammed into her from the side, wrapping Evelyn in her goopy body.
Then Alex launched his anchor at the two of them.
Evelyn cursed, her sword flashing as she cut through Princess again and brought her shield to bear. The anchor slammed into it, screeching along the metal and flying harmlessly to the side — only for Alex to come hurtling in right behind it feet-first.
His heels slammed into Evelyn’s face plate. A powerful vibration raced up his legs and through his bones with enough force to make his teeth rattle. He dropped to the ground with a shaking curse. Then he instinctively rolled sideways and onto his back.
An instant later, Evelyn’s sword slammed down into the ground where he’d been.
Her foot rose into the air, heel accelerating down toward Alex’s face.
Alex activated the Singularity Core.
His Anchor screamed through the air, whipping past Evelyn. The chain slammed taut and yanked him backward along with it, dragging him across the sand and leaving the armored woman’s foot to slam into nothing but sand.
The anchor slammed into a wall on the far side of the arena, driving into the stone and embedding itself with a crack. Alex’s back hit it a moment later. He grunted, dropping back to the sand and landing on his feet. His eyes flicked over to the other side of the arena.
Claire and Henry were locked in a blindingly fast exchange of strikes. Blades of blood hung in the air around the two of them, slashing out to cut at the unarmored man in synchronized attacks with Claire’s cracking whip. But, somehow, he managed to stumble or stagger out of the way of each one.
Henry barely even looked like he was fighting. Calling it flailing would have been more accurate. He was just staggering around, somehow dodging around her whip’s strikes while occasionally flinging a seemingly-mistaken kick of punch in Claire’s direction.
Even with Glint circling him, clearly searching for an opening, there wasn’t a single cut on the man’s body. Claire wasn’t doing any worse, though. She’d dodged every attack Henry had tried to hit her with. And, with Glint keeping up the pressure along with her, she was definitely holding her ground.
“Close one!” Henry called in delight as he spun past Claire’s strikes. “You’re nimble! But how long can you last? I dare say my stamina may be superior to yours. Perhaps you should have your summoner friend’s monster step in! I can see him waiting on the sidelines!”
Claire didn’t respond. She was clearly too focused on the fight. Alex noted that she hadn’t called on her Soul Manifestation yet. That was probably because it did nothing but waste energy if she couldn’t actually land a blow on her opponent.
Still… they were evenly matched. Alex and Claire hadn’t managed to actually get the upper hand anywhere in the fight yet.
So we’ve got one guy that moves in a way that you can’t hit him and a lady who can basically tank any hit we have without even flinching, huh?
“You’re a lot more nimble than I thought you’d be with that thing,” Evelyn called as she started toward Alex again. “I’m definitely not used to seeing the weapon wield the man. You make a good kite.”
“Thanks,” Alex replied. “And I’ll be honest, I really did think I’d ring you like a bell with the anchor. The hell is your armor made of? Do you have the world’s best cushioning or something?”
“Something like that,” Evelyn said with a laugh. Her walk accelerated into a run. “It’s far from the hardest thing to break through that I’ve come up against in my times. This is only the Adept level version. Imagine what I could do if I had access to the full Soul Manifestation.”
Alright, Spark. We’re going to have to swap things up a little bit. You know what to do.
Spark’s looming form creaked. The hands crossed before his chest clenched, and the blue void within his stomach hissed. Strands of near-invisible blue thread spooled out from within it to extend across the arena. Several shot to wrap around her legs as she ran, but she tore through them without even slowing.
“Really?” Evelyn asked with a laugh, closing the distance between them faster and faster. “You think something like that can hold me? A soul weapon is a cute trick, but they’re only really that effective when your soul is considerably stronger than that of your opponent. And unless you forgot, I’m far from at the beginning of the Adept stage.”
“Yeah?” Alex asked. He banished his anchor. The links on his wrist vanished, fading back into his soul. He waited until Evelyn was just inches away from him. Then he grinned. “But this was never meant to hold you down.”
The strands of blue thread — that had now spread to cover nearly all of the arena — suddenly came to life. One of then snapped taut around Alex’s chest. It yanked him straight into the air. At the same time, Princess came hurtling toward Evelyn, driving into the other woman and preventing her from leaping after him, even if only for a moment.
And that moment was all Alex needed. Spark’s thread whipped. It sent him hurtling across the arena toward Claire and Henry. Threads darted up to bind around Henry as well. But, entirely unsurprisingly, they seemed to pass right through him. Henry’s cackle echoed out across the arena.
Wind whipped at Alex’s eyes as he shot through the air. He gritted his teeth, reaching deep within himself as he extended his hand. There was more than one way to grab a slippery opponent.
Henry’s eyes flicked over to Alex. The grin on the man’s lips grew wider. He swayed out of the way of Claire’s strikes, his footing already shifting in preparation to let Alex come hurtling in for an easy kill.
Now!
Glint’s claws rent through the air, slicing a portal into being just behind Henry. The glasmir darted through it, his axe-like tail hurtling down in a blur. Claire’s whip snapped out at the same moment.
And in the moment before the blows collided, Alex called upon the Singularity Core.
Henry’s eyes widened.
He stumbled, suddenly pulled off balance as an immense force ripped at the magic pouring out of him.
Glint’s axe slammed home into the back of Henry’s neck. Claire’s whip wound around his body three times in rapid succession. The thorns dug deep into his skin.
Then she yanked her hand back.
There was a crunch. The whip tightened, tearing through flesh and cracking bone under the force of her powerful arm.
Henry collapsed.
Glint yanked his axe-blade free from Henry’s back, then brought it down on his neck a second time. There was a thunk. It passed clean through his neck and bit into the sand, leaving the man’s head to roll away beside it.
“Nice,” Claire said with a grin. “You sure took your time.”
“Had to make sure Evelyn was on the other side of the arena and caught up with Princess,” Alex replied as the two of them turned to face their remaining opponent. “And I wasn’t entirely sure that would work. I’ve only ever pulled magic, not people.”
“You sly dogs,” Evelyn said, sounding more delighted than annoyed. “I’m going to have to scold Henry for that. Idiot was screwing around too much.”
“Is this where you reveal that you’ve been holding back as well?” Alex asked.
“Not exactly,” Evelyn called back, laughing. “It isn’t holding back if you were just scoping out your opponent’s abilities. It is a bit of a shame that Henry got too cocky. But that’s life. Either way, you’ve impressed me. Now it’s my turn.”
She dropped her sword and drove her palm into the ground.
A rumble passed through the sand.
Then it exploded up all around her. Gritty yellow-brown weapons made of sand lifted into the air, ranging from swords to maces and everything in between. Evelyn extended her sword hand. Her armor rippled, and another shield took form on her right arm.
“Holy shit,” Alex muttered, looking up at the sea of weapons hanging around their opponent. There must have been at least fifty of them.
“You control metal,” Claire said, her eyes narrowing in realization. “That’s your ability?”
“Spot on. And fun little fact,” Evelyn said. She crossed her shields before herself and lowered her stance. “There’s a good bit of iron in normal sand.”
Then, with every single weapon alongside her, Evelyn charged.