Chapter 31

  Say what you will about Eesa Nova. She might have been a cheater, but she wasn’t a coward. In fact, before the word “fight” even got out of the vowel phase of its life and into its silent consonants, she was on me.

  With a primal scream that gave the scourge a run for their money in its hate and ferocity, she launched herself forward, one of those short hook blades held up in a guard and the other trailing behind her like the tail of a scorpion. The leading blade glowed bright red, crackling with some kind of arcing power that looked suspiciously like electricity, which, to my shame, I hadn’t really considered as a possibility up until now.

  What a day to wrap yourself in metal.

  I held out my hand and summoned my sword, the hilt now a few inches longer to accommodate the size of my gauntlets. It flashed into existence just in time, a fraction of a second before impact, and the two weapons clashed. Sparks spat from the inside edge of Eeesa’s weapon, each one bright as an arc welder. The hair on my body that wasn’t currently being hugged tight by the armor stood, and my muscles twitched as the current, though muted by the sword’s insulated handle, buzzed through me ferociously.

  For that reason, I almost didn’t see the second, less flashy attack coming down from overhead. In fact, Eesa was most of the way through executing the move (and me) before I even noticed I was about to die, the honed point of the hook mere inches from my helmet’s eye socket. So, as any other less than properly trained, nerdy mechanic in a giant metal suit would do, I reeled back as swiftly as I could and flailed my arms in an attempt to not lose my eye (again).

  This is where the size and mass difference between the two of us came into play.

  Since Eesa was currently hooked to my sword and in the middle of what she thought was a killing blow, she had very little say when my arms and my sword blade flung her, bodily, into the air. I heard a tiny, mouselike squeak from her and caught a glimpse of the shock on her face as she went skyward. She sailed up, maybe a dozen feet in the air, her limbs flailing wildly.

  That didn’t last, though. She seemed to master herself halfway through the descent and turned the fall into a catlike pounce, where she landed on all fours a good distance away from me. She’d even retained her weapons. I hated to admit it, but that was a pretty slick display.

  Well, Ryan, we’re not fighting scourge anymore, are we?

  The crowd loved it. They roared their approval. Barks of laughter interspersed with whistles and whoops bobbed above the white noise of the general fervor.

  Eesa’s opening gambit had proved ineffective, so she went with the next.

  “Maybe I was wrong about you. You do belong in the gutter with the others,” she taunted. “A real Chosen would have made me pay for such a cheeky opening, but you don’t have the first clue how to do that, do you?”

  Funnily enough, she was right. Inside the armor, I was furiously pulsing mana through all sorts of systems, fumbling for the right one to use. I wanted to strike back or at least test a couple things and see how she handled them, but now that I was in the middle of a fight, I found myself quite incapable of remembering exactly which circle of deep lead I needed to activate. A labeling system was probably in order once I got a spare minute back in the shop.

  Sure, I could have just started summoning drones and turning the arena into a bullet-ridden hellscape right away, maybe whittle her down bit by bit until she was done. I didn’t know how much HP she had or what kind of Abilities she could bring to bear, but I was pretty sure I could overwhelm her with just a fraction of what I was capable of.

  That wasn’t what this fight was about, though. I was here to learn, and, in large part, to send a message.

  “Oh, we’re back to default settings now are we? Where’s all the sweetness and light from a few minutes ago?” I asked, stalling.

  She grinned evilly, spinning those hooks of hers in a blurring kata that dazzled the eye, the blazing red one looking particularly dangerous.

  Let’s see how real Exotics handle heavy ordinance.

  I made my sword disappear again and reached over to put a hand on my left forearm, just above the action I’d built into the launcher system. A tiny pulse of my mana, and I heard a muffled *clunk* as a cannon round was summoned and loaded into the tube.

  *FOOP*

  Eesa seemed to have been waiting for an attack. She flexed in the middle, twisting her body until she was performing a lazy cartwheel, her hips seeming to lead the rest of her effortlessly out of the way of the mortar round in the most disgustingly impressive dodge I’d ever witnessed. Yep. Exotics were fast.

  Unfortunately for her, my mortar rounds didn’t need to hit you to do their thing. The shot Eesa thought she'd dodged exploded just a few feet from her, and her tumbling maneuver turned into a flopping, flailing, ragdoll roll across the arena floor.

  Another round locked into the mortar chamber, and I tracked the Nova girl with my wrist, only I didn’t get a chance to fire. Eesa turned her roll into a controlled scuttle along the ground. Then the air seemed to fold around her like a sort of curtain, and, though I had a good bead on where she was about to end up, she never got there. By the time I was ready to fire, she’d entirely disappeared.

  I pulled the trigger anyway. The tube went *FOOP* and the little ball of metal sailed away, but it found no valid target upon which to detonate, bouncing harmlessly off the floor and rolling off to the edge of the arena.

  It was some kind of Stealth Ability or maybe a cloak… was that a thing? Of course it was a thing. We were dealing with magic. I turned, looking this way and that, searching for some clue where the girl had gone, footprints, shoe scuffs, blood spatters, anything. Suddenly, the crowd noise, which had morphed into the low susurration of people collectively holding their breaths or murmuring to one another, was a big detriment. I wished I could hear anything other than them and the hollow echoes of my own breathing.

  I reached into my brain and fished for where I’d put the connection I was thinking of.

  Ryan, Ryan, you should have built less and practiced more.

  On a hunch, I pulsed mana into the connection currently jabbed into the back of my wrist.

  *CLANK* *CLANK*

  The Triggers pulsed, and the armored flap on the outside edge of my left forearm split open, and the thick bar of tungsten alloy I’d installed there flowed from its storage compartment, flattened itself out, and fused into the shape of a shield. Oh, good. That was the right spot.

  My sword flashed into my hand once more. Surely, she’d closed the distance by now, but there was no way of knowing-

  The sound of scraping metal was the only thing that clued me in to the fact that I was being attacked.

  Unknown attacks you for 0 damage. (piercing) [-33 mitigated].

  Unknown attacks you for 28 damage. (burning)

  Suddenly, I was being reminded how it felt to be flash fried. It had been a while since I’d last done this, and, to no one’s surprise, I hadn’t missed it.

  I looked down to find a blazing volcano just under my right rib. Fire belched out of my side, red, angry. Inside the inferno, though it was hard to see, I detected something solid. Detect Iron wasn’t giving me a hit, but I was fairly sure there was something small and hard slightly embedded into the armor plating, a darker, cooler object that was at the core of the fire. I didn’t give it a second thought. I reached down and ripped it out, the muted feeling in my prosthetic something I’d thank Constance for later.

  Fire billowed from my hand, dribbling to the floor and running down the outside of my armor.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Devouring Grasp [5 MP/sec]

  You have consumed Glyph of Conflagration

  Status gained: Engine [15 MP/sec for 20 sec]

  You gain knowledge of material: Shriek Glass [1/10]

  The fire winked out, leaving me seeing spots and reeling from the all too familiar smell of my own cooking flesh.

  Detect Iron warned me just in time to get my shield up again. Eesa’s hook sparked as it scored a line across the disk. Her followup slash was at my knees. I was quick enough this time, though, or perhaps she didn’t think I could see her still. Detect was quickly becoming my most underrated but useful skill.

  I lifted my leg and twisted enough to take the blow on my armored shin instead of the joint. Then I brought the full (and substantial) weight of myself and my armor down on top of Eesa’s wrist. I expected to hear a crunch or maybe a scream, but, instead, the girl slipped out of the way just before the move could land. There was the scrape of metal and the *boom* of impact, but that was all. I looked down to see Eesa’s hook blade and one of her gloves under my metal knee.

  With a glance around to make sure I wasn’t being attacked again, I reached down and Devouring Grasped the hook right where the blade met the handle. The weapon shattered satisfyingly in my hand.

  Devouring Grasp [5 MP/sec]

  You have consumed Glyph of Tearing

  Status gained: Engine [12 MP/sec for 20 sec]

  You gain knowledge of material: Shriek Glass [2/10]

  You gain knowledge of material: Steel [19,998/20,000]

  You gain knowledge of material: Steel [19,999/20,000]

  You gain knowledge of material: Steel [20,000/20,000]

  Affinity type: Steel is now grade D.

  Well that was a nice bonus. I’d been Consuming things off and on in the shop since I’d come back from Sabium, but I hadn’t realized I was getting so close to a D grade in Steel.

  Thanks, Eesa.

  “You dropped your thingy,” I called to her.

  “It’s a kama, worm,” came her reply from behind me.

  I spun to find her there, glowing red “kama” held to her side. She brought her weapon up and grasped the blade with her hand. No, that wasn’t quite right, her fingers sank into the blade, and crimson energy flowed up her arm and into the rest of her body. Her eyes began to glow with that hateful electricity.

  I knew this trick. I’d gotten a first row seat at her last show.

  Cursing, I sank down to a knee, brought up my shield, and braced. I even triggered the Body Reinforcement system on my chest, feeling a huge amount of mana, maybe half of what I had stored, flood out of the battery arrays and weave itself into the rest of the armor plating. The fabric that made up the suit became utterly saturated with power to the point where I didn’t think I needed my Exotic senses to tell.

  Then the world became fire.

  Eesa Nova attacks you for 30 damage. (fire) [-45 mitigated]

  Eesa Nova attacks you for 32 damage. (fire) [-45 mitigated]

  Eesa Nova attacks you for 38 damage. (fire) [-45 mitigated]

  Again, I was beset by blazing heat and the smell of charred meat. I grunted, lowered my head to keep from breathing the flames in, but I held.

  Despite the pain and the damage, I wasn’t blown off my feet or sent spinning into a stilling field again, so it was still a win in my book.

  The red flame thrower spell ended after a few agonizing seconds, leaving me smoking and woozy but alive.

  I rose to my feet, my glowing hot shield held out in front of me still, my sword ready.

  She had to be getting confident by now, right?

  Something hit me in the legs hard enough to make me stumble. I blinked the tracers out of my eyes and looked down to find Eesa there, a gleeful smile in her eyes. Also, one of her hooks was half embedded in my chest. In one, fluid motion, she kicked her feet off the floor, planted them in my stomach, and ripped her hook down in a line across my torso. The armor plating parted like a can of dog food. Then, with her other hand Eesa reached into the rent in my armor like she wanted to claw me with her own fingernails, her mad laughter making the thought of letting her touch me even less desirable.

  Grunting, I swung the glowing shield down at her face, but she was slippery as ever, letting go of her hook and swinging under my legs, and by the time I turned around to find her, she was already doing her disappearing act.

  I wasn’t about to repeat this whole process again. My sword disappeared once more.

  *BRRRRRAP*

  My machine pistol barked. For once, my aim was okay. Maybe not center mass, but good enough that the Nova girl took a graze on her leg, eliciting a yelp from her and making her stumble. She turned it into a tumble, then set her feet and raised a hand. A glowing symbol flared to life on her palm, red and angry like all her other spells, and a crimson shield deflected the rest of my bullets.

  I wasn’t deterred, though. I poured on the damage, sending sprays of lead her way in small bursts as I advanced. Every bullet glanced harmlessly off the spell, but I could tell it was taking effort to keep up. For that matter, she also wasn’t moving. Good.

  Using the momentary lull, I felt my chest where her hook was still dangling there. Superficial damage from what I could tell. Luckily, she’d not gotten deep enough to penetrate the brain housing.

  Another mental note: increased armor in the chest. Vital systems are called that for a reason.

  My pistol went dry a few seconds later, and, shortly after, so did Eesa’s shield. She was breathing hard, her spell probably having taken a bit out of her, but her psychotic grin was still there.

  “You had me worried. For a minute, I thought you may have some hidden strength,” she said. “But, it’s as I first believed. You’re a pretender. You fight like a human, and, because of that, you’ll never belong among us. You have nothing.”

  I shook my head, sadly. That was exactly what I thought she would say.

  Here it comes.

  I purposefully let myself stagger a bit as I walked toward her, reached up to cup at the charred skin under my armor. It hurt, but I had HP to spare. I summoned my sword once again, swayed ever so slightly as I got into what I hoped came off as a tired, nearly beaten combat stance, a last stand. I even pretended to breathe hard as I replied.

  “Come on then. I’ll show you what I’ve got.”

  Eesa obliged me. Symbols on her legs and stomach flared to life, she bent at the knees and rocketed forward. She was on me before I could even blink, her replacement hook batting my blade aside, legs wrapping around my shield arm, her empty hand reaching forward to the rent in my chest. Her tiny fingers plunged inside, questing for maximum depth. A triumphant grin split her face as she reached whatever range she was looking for.

  “I win,” she whispered.

  I felt an Ability activate, all cinders, dark whispers and spite, but, to one of our surprise, nothing happened. Eesa’s grin faltered then disappeared altogether. She jabbed at my armor, clawing at the general area where her enchantment used to be.

  My metal sheathed arms were suddenly clamped around her, crushing her to my chest in a bear hug. The griddle-hot metal sizzled as it came into contact with her bodysuit and exposed skin.

  All the bravado and smug certainty drained from the girl’s face in short order, and she went a ghostly shade of white. She even screamed.

  “I’m sorry. Were you expecting to find something there?” I asked, my voice echoing coldly in my helmet. “Something you could use like with your brother? You can consume your own spells, can’t you? Use them to do big, flashy stuff with the mana it acquires inside your victim. Or maybe you can turn them against their hosts. I dunno. I haven’t guessed that part. I will, though. I might not be much of of a warrior, but at the same time-”

  Eesa struggled against me, tried to slip out of my arms, but I had her. The joints in my armor were locked into place, the Body Reinforcement enchantments burning through power to keep her right where I wanted her. The girl’s shallow breaths wheezed in her throat as her struggles waned.

  I brought her in close so that I could be absolutely sure she heard me loud and clear.

  “I am not to be fucked with, Eesa.”

  The compartments on my upper back slid open and two, skeletal wings of thick steel sprang from my sides. On the end of both wings were three twin barreled Mark II style turret heads. The Automated loading pistons slammed the first needle pointed rounds into place with satisfying *clacks.*

  Somehow, the girl went a shade paler, and she froze, a mouse caught in the shadow of a hawk.

  I gave Eesa one last look before I flung her into the air. Then she flew, spinning like a seed on the wind.

  I held up a gauntleted hand and made a mock pistol shape with my finger.

  Bang.

  My turrets acquired their target, turning and unleashing the full fury of over a hundred penetration rounds into the Exotic girl’s body.

  She tried to activate her shield. Good on her for still having some fight left, but there was no hope of it holding up under the attention of six of my Mark II’s at once.

  Her defenses only lasted half a second. Then the shield collapsed and she was riddled with holes. Many, many holes.

  A heartbeat later, she slapped wetly onto the arena floor and slid a few feet before coming to rest, a sagging pile of organic matter barely recognizable as human.

  You have defeated Eeesa Trivalia Nova.

  You receive 10 experience points. [50 capped for non-lethal, -40 non combat class]

  Ryan Kotes is victorious.

  I keyed the deactivation sequence on the wings, unsure if they would keep firing even after the girl was down.

  Everything was dead silent all of a sudden, no one quite sure how to take such a brutal and decisive turn of events. Good. I hoped the rest of the Exotics were watching, and they were getting second thoughts about where I stood in the pecking order.

  The announcer was what finally broke the spell.

  “Winner: Ryan Kotes of the Colonial Authority.”

  The crowd went insane.