Chapter 678 – Hudson Brawl 2 – Good News – Very Bad News
There was fantastic news for John when Jack arrived at the blacksmith’s workshop. All weapons were finished, displayed for John to see, each shimmering dangerously in the sunlight.
The dragon claw had changed the least. Still stretching from elbow to the fingertips, it was an assortment of unequally sized facets, spreading like obsidian scales over the skin, and ended in dangerously curved claws. Two differences stood out, however. The constant, red flickering around it, an aura of thin fire, and the back of the hand being covered with thin silver and black lines, Mithril and Oblivium respectively. They formed a pattern that reminded John of the eye of a snake, a gap like a slit pupil surrounded by lines like the fibres of a pupil.
As the appearance section said, this weapon also looked largely the same. Very largely. That being a play on how enormous the weapon still was. Two-metres tall, as broad as five hands placed next to each other, with only a third of that dedicated to the actual edge, and as thick as the span between thumb and extended index finger. A brutal weapon, made for superhuman strength and solely to cleave things apart.
The katana that was Eclys had gained a blue hue, likely due to the Poseidury that was now part of it. It had gotten a tad longer, but remained as graceful and deadly a weapon as ever.
This one was quite a bit more changed. The once quite simple, flat piece of sharpened metal was now covered in intricate lines. It had a proper grip now, clearly designated for just one hand, but no guard still. The blade was so long, it blurred that line between dagger and short sword. It was also now sharpened on both sides.
Last was the truly new weapon. An ivory shaft led into a spear tip of a rather interesting design. It had a diamond shape, but the central part was hollow and the penetrating pointy end curved where everything else was symmetrical and the corners jagged. The inner rim was also decorated with those blue and black lines.
It looked perfect for Beatrice, on the colour scheme alone. The balance between fluidity in the design and symmetric jaggedness was like a physical mirror of her personality. John had no idea what half of the Attributes on it or the other weapons meant. Sadly, he didn’t really have the opportunity to check right now either.
This was due to two reasons. For one, he had a battle to fight. His real body was still on the water, but things were going on everywhere and he really couldn’t justify reading text and analysing all the possible uses of everything for the next ten to twenty minutes. That would have to wait until later. This was, however, the lesser of the two reasons.
The primary one was that he did not currently hold of any of these items.
“Today must be my double lucky day!” exclaimed the woman that had them. She was a tall one, a giant by most descriptions, the kind of build you only see in video games or Guinness World Records books. Somewhere above two metres, broader than John, with arms that would have made Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his best day) get green with envy.
That she was, indeed, a woman was only distantly recognizable from her face and hair, a very square looking jaw, framed by very short, brown hair, but her large breasts were enough of a show. She was someone’s wet dream, muscular and looking like she could make ‘death by snu-snu’ a reality – but definitely not John’s.
‘Why do you have to have the perfectly annoying ability in this situation?’ John mentally complained as Helene whirled all her weapons in Beatrice’s direction. Once more, the passive maid dodged backwards, with more space between them this time. This strike she had anticipated.
“Fuck, that bleeds a lot,” Helene growled, reaching to her ripped off ear. “You know what, fuck you, I am just taking your shit and...” the woman reached up with one hand, evidently trying to leave the barrier. One moment, John felt nervous, then Helene’s face turned red with what little more anger could possibly boil up inside her.
Everything was going according to schedule; the barrier was already in lockdown. As long as Magoi could keep his concentration (about an hour, he had assured, for an Illusion Barrier of this size) and the IBMA was active, nobody could leave. Not unless the High Fateweaver allowed it.
“...FINE!” Helene spat out, turned away from Beatrice and came storming towards John. He could feel the vibrations of her trampling long before she reached him. “If I can’t go, then I will just murder you on my own! Who even needs reinforcements?!” A white ring barely touched the charging warrior’s feet, and with a scream of wrath, she changed course. The same Skill that had hit her told her that bad things would happen if she didn’t comply to this urge to attack another target.
Aclysia stood her ground. Her Devotion spent on Master’s Shield, she could only use generators to counteract the enemies attacks. The thrust of Perfect, she met with a Servant Strike, deflecting the shaft to the side, before the tip could reach her. With True Block, she attempted to knock aside the arm wielding Tiemarath, another successful thing. That the weapons she was wielding were so differently weighted didn’t help Helene’s balance issues.
Still, when over 200 kilos of muscle, woman and metal charged at anyone, even deflected blows had an impact. Simply running Aclysia over, they both went to the ground. Pinned under all that weight and power, the weaponized maid was stabbed in the face – once with Salver and Eclys each. It hurt, John could feel it, it blinded Aclysia, but as a being without a brain, it was far from lethal.
The artificial guardian reached for the dagger in her face and tried to keep it where it was. Distracted by this, Helene didn’t notice Beatrice swiftly approaching until the passive maid was already in her thrusting motion. The Wall of Arms twisted around, Master’s Shield didn’t prevent someone from blocking or counterattacking. The latter was out of the question, and even the former was a failed effort. Beatrice’s spear, despite being as straight as a weapon could be, seemed to weave between the blocking blade’s, found a hole, and sunk into Helene’s armour. The Deathmetal Spear cut through the leather, cut through skin, but only managed to hit a rib.
Helene forced Beatrice back and then jumped off Aclysia, pulling Salver from the weaponized maid’s grasp, when she was threatened to be stabbed in her vulnerable side. Quickly getting on her feet as well, Aclysia’s head turned from a destroyed mess into the beautiful face John was used to, with a sharp, dangerous look in her eyes.
“Taking Master’s gifts from me is unforgivable,” the weaponized maid stated, every word delivered with murderous intent. “I hope rot eats you alive, dishonourable deviant.”
“Honour is no fun. And what honour is in blasting my ear off anyway?!” Helene returned. Likely thanks to her Endurance, that wound on the ear was bleeding a lot less now. The cut at her back was shallow. Neither wound would hinder her, or cause her to slow anytime soon. All parties stared at each other, unwilling to make the next move carelessly, until the white light under Helene’s feet faded. “You can keep your threats, while I go and take your ‘master’s’ head!”
With that announcement Helene turned to storm at John again. Master’s Shield had run out, nothing was stopping her from going after John again. Of course, the Gamer had expected this. Rather than just watch, he had moved further and further back towards the water. Now that the Wall of Arms was bulldozing his way again, he did nothing. Nothing until she was so close that he couldn’t take any more risks.
There was one giant advantage that controlling Jack had over his proper body. One that John used to make a slightly comedic escape. Standing there, arms crossed, wide-legged, and smirking tauntingly, he shot up into the air. The Mandala Sphere could fly, and thus, so could Jack. Helene tried to leap, to still hit him, but he just went diagonally and she flew by him, flying ten metres forwards until she landed in the water.
It was for this one moment, that John regretted having filtered the Hudson. Although a petty satisfaction, having her submerged in the murky green soup that was the New York Bay could have been a small bit of payback.
Aclysia and Beatrice hurried over, while Jack remained in the air. He wouldn’t be a help in the physical battle anyway, his job was to coordinate and throw a spell where he saw an opening. What this little trick of his did was force Helene to fight on the softer ground of the shore, where her weight would be a disadvantage, for as long as the maids could keep her from pushing back inland.
Helene effectively walked on the floor of the sea. At her height, she could stand and breathe after only a few steps. The trio could see her approaching easily, thanks to the clearness of the river. “Maybe more threats after all,” the Wall of Arms growled as she approached slowly. This fight was far from over, neither side had taken real damage yet.
It also wasn’t the only one.