Walter saw the incoming projectile immediately. It wasn’t hard, especially as the sound of it launching had echoed across the entire fort. Thinking quickly, he unplugged his railgun, reconnecting his shield core.
The protective amber bubble barely flickered to life before the mortar shell landed, blasting a crater not two feet from where Walter was entrenched, while Isaac’s two minions went up in smoke.
Dismissing his force field again, he coughed as the dust settled around him, obscuring his vision. Cursing, he fumbled for his railgun.
“Gotta keep focused,” he muttered to himself. “Keep them distracted while Marie and that other guy rescue Riley.”
Lifting his weapon to his shoulder, he waited for the dust to clear.
*******
“Are we saved?”
Deep6 tentatively reformed her head, oozing around the remnants of the door that was their temporary shelter. Their two biggest opponents had just erupted in an explosion and a cloud of dust, and with both the hail of bullets and the searing rail bolts having ceased, the haggard Cutpurses were hopeful.
“Quick, before they recover, lets make tracks,” Ifrit urged, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Deep6, you go make sure the mecha-kid is dead. Rampardner and I’ll take the knight boy. Sickle!” he called out. “You grab Nightslayr and hightail it to the prison cells!”
“Think y’all can handle it without me?” Sicklesoul called over dubiously from behind her cover. “I have this feelin’ you’ll croak the moment I leave, old fart.”
“I’ve still got two lives left, don’t you worry.” Ifrit laughed, flexing his wiry muscles. “Besides, once midnight hits, my extra lives’ll recharge. Go on, get going, half-pint.”
Muttering good-naturedly under her breath, the small woman knocked on the twisted gargoyle next to her. “Up 'n at ‘em, Nighty! Lets get crackin’!”
The stone statue made no reply.
“I know you’re in there, kiddo.” Sicklesoul scowled. “Get moving ‘fore I carve you a new bellybutton.”
“Damnit Sickle, you ruined my time to shine!” the statue complained, creaking as its stony joints began to move. “I was all set to scare the living daylights outta one of those intruders! Imagine the look on their face when they back up next to me, and then I suddenly grab them from behind like this!”
The statue accented his last words by springing forward and gripping the small woman in his twisted claws, as he gustily produced an eructing attempt at a growl.
“If ya wanted t’ spook some kid, you shoulda set up closer t’ centerfield!” Sicklesoul retorted, flicking his claws off of her in a no-nonsense manner. “All you done this entire night was sit in a corner collectin’ dust, you twisted excuse for a hat-rack. Move yer rocky haunches mister, we got intruders t’ catch!”
“I’m not deaf, spoilsport,” Nightslayr muttered through his inconveniently protruding fangs. “C’mon, lets get this over with. I’ll carry you.”
Without waiting for her assent, he lurched forward, large bat-like wings unfolding from under a sheath of stony skin on his back. Contrary to his heavy look, he gathered speed quickly, soaring over the surprised head of Charles and dive-bombing towards the open entrance to the lower levels of the fort.
Meanwhile, Deep6 had already left to take care of Walter, playing it safe as she slipped across the cobblestones in her water form, dozens of little rivulets coursing through the grooves of the floor on their way towards the mortar’s impact.
“Well, I guess that leaves us, big guy.” Ifrit clanged his fist on Rampardner’s armour, as across the courtyard Charles opened his inventory, fingers flashing over his menu. “C’mon, let’s show ‘em us old fogeys still got it.”136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZDv30NbQV
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6qrQRwSyp
"Speak for yerself, old-timer," Rampardner muttered, advancing on Charles. "I'm still in my prime!"
*******
As soon as the mortar shell had come into view, Jason had adjusted his priorities. Kicking a foot into Sandman’s face to disorient him, he backpedaled away from the flashing beacon, throwing himself off the guardhouse roof and breaking into a roll as he hit the ground beneath.
Sandman was not as fast. Trying to blink away the unbidden tears in his eyes at his now broken nose, the unfortunate player could only roll himself out of harm's way as the mortar shell shrieked towards his location. Seconds before the impact, he teetered off the edge of the roof, dropping heavily to the ground as the guardhouse exploded in flames, launching roof tiles in streaking arcs away from the epicenter.
“Damn, that was close,” Jason muttered, hastening for the stairs back to the battlements. He could still see his target atop them, waiting patiently for him to arrive.
“Back for round two?” she teased playfully, flashing a smile that, contrary to her name, was devoid of malice.
“You’d better believe it,” Jason retorted. “So sorry there won’t be a round three.”
Swiping his inventory and bringing out his swordstaff, he charged the girl, leading with a right hook.
The girl didn’t even raise her blades to counter. Bouncing once, she slammed a kick into the center staff between the blades, stopping his strike and knocking him back. In response, the assassin twisted his weapon, disengaging the connection between the two blades as her foot slipped between them.
Not losing the momentum, (M)Alice slammed her foot into the ground, propelling her right at Jason, her other knee raised. Too close to use his swords effectively, Jason twisted his hands to try to cross his swords in front of him in defense, but the girl flicked her two daggers up, catching the blades against their hilts as she drove her knee into his gut.
Jason tasted blood and bile in his mouth. Unable to use his hands to counterattack without disengaging his lock against her daggers, he responded instead by kicking out with his leg, catching her in the shin while he followed up with a headbutt to her face, knocking her to the ground in pain.
Instead of trying to charge her again while she was down, Jason dropped back, the searing pain in his stomach reminding him of how dangerous she was in close quarters. Besides, he had noticed out of the corner of his eye that his lightning-charged revolver was scant feet away from him, offering another solution.
Slipping his swords on his back, Jason dropped to a crouch and reached for his pistol, his other hand groping for his ammo pouch.
But (M)Alice was also on the move. Reaching into her hoodie pocket, she deftly pulled the pin off a flash grenade, closing her eyes as she lobbed it towards the young assassin. Even as the bright flash was dissipating, she cast her illusion on his fallen pistol, following up by launching twin waves of shuriken, both in Jason’s direction, and over the courtyard seemingly at random.
Of course, Jason was not stupid. As soon as the grenade had landed next to him, he had reflexively leapt back, but he wasn’t expecting the flash. Even as he tried to shut his eyes against the piercing light, he anticipated the next thing she would do would be to press the attack.
Accordingly, he intoned his cloaking skill, fading invisible and softly rolling out of his former position, as he heard the telltale “clink” of blades striking stone not far from him.
As the whiteness faded from his vision to be replaced with brilliant sunspots, he quickly searched for his revolver, only to note with dismay that it was nowhere to be seen. Cursing his bad luck, he reached for his throwing daggers, pausing only as he noted the curious sight before him.
Dotting the air above the courtyard were dozens of throwing knives, all frozen in midair at varied intervals, forming a small network of interspaced blades. Before he could contemplate the reason for this, (M)Alice flung herself off the battlements, grabbing a frozen dagger as she went.
Hauling herself effortlessly up with one hand, she swung over to another, turning as she did and launching a pair of kunai at her opponent with her other hand.
Jason dodged easily, throwing a dagger in response, but (M)Alice countered by splitting in two, each girl diving in a different direction towards a different handhold. Without pausing, each girl split again, leaving Jason facing four opponents, only one of them real.
“How’s that?” All four (M)Alices grinned mischievously, swinging from dagger to dagger, leaving Jason unable to place the source of the voice.
Before he could respond, their attack began, wave after wave of flying blades. Most of them flew intangibly through him and the stones behind him as he tried to dodge, but one by one, the real blades started to find their marks.
“You could always surrender,” the (M)Alices offered, stopping their hail of blades temporarily as they turned to face Jason. “Being imprisoned’s better than being dead, you know.”
“Sorry, but I’m the most stubborn man I know,” Jason retorted through gritted teeth as he carefully maneuvered his foot. Nothing escaped him, not even during his mad attempt at dodging. As his foot slipped a little further back, it clicked satisfyingly against something invisible lying against the battlement’s surface.
His missing revolver.
“That’s too bad.” The (M)Alices sighed with genuine regret as they drew their kunai. “Well, I guess this is it for you.”
“Guess again, chump,” Jason shot back, as he dropped to the ground, popping his now-invisible pistol open and loading it. Flipping it up, he didn’t even try to dodge the kunai streaking at him. Stoically accepting a blade through his side, he snapped off two bullets, grinning as they passed through two illusory (M)Alices.
“Two down, two to go,” he muttered.
*******
Despite Deep6’s attempts to be stealthy, Walter immediately noticed her approach. It wasn’t hard to figure out that 60 liters of water slipping towards him in puddles and rivulets wasn’t a natural occurrence.
“I don’t like this…” he muttered to himself. Lifting his railgun, he immediately took a shot, blasting a crater in the center of the biggest pool of water.
Steam hissed into the air as the heat from the shot evaporated the water, but somehow the trickling liquid didn’t fill the crater, skirting it completely as it began slipping towards him even faster.
Without hesitating, Walter immediately loaded a second shot, blasting it at the ground scant feet in front of him, wincing as shards of debris clipped his head. Without bothering to check the result of his shot, Walter quickly reached for another round, everything else forgotten in his mission to guard the gate.
“Woah, seriously man, hold it!” Deep6 partially reformed a couple feet from him, her body steaming with the heat of his attacks. “Who shoots at a harmless puddle like that? Cut me some slack!”
“Oh, so it was an enemy.” Walter aimed and pulled the trigger. Deep6 barely managed to liquify again before a blast of energy shot through where she had just been, vaporizing a little more of her body as it carried on past, grazing Rampardner’s metal Stetson and knocking it to the ground with a loud *clank*.
“Oh, you little bastard!” Deep6 spread her puddle in a wide circle around Walter, as she reformed herself behind his back.
Disconnecting the wires from his railgun, Walter threw it over his shoulder at the quickly-reforming Deep6. Anchored to the ground as he was, he was completely vulnerable to attacks from behind him. Even as Deep6 exhaled her storm cloud above him, static discharges of lightning primed, Walter reconnected his shield, the orange energy barrier flickering up seconds before a lance of lightning stuck it.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Walter twisted to look at the now fully-formed Deep6. “I guess it’s a stalemate, huh?” he called out. “You can’t attack me forever, you’ve only got so much TP. We’ll just have to see which’ll last longer, your TP or my shield.”
“Actually.” Deep6 smirked, popping a healing potion from her inventory and quaffing it. “I’m an Incarnate, so I don’t use TP. All my skills draw from my health bar instead, and I’ve got no shortage of potions. So why don’t you tell me what you think’s gonna give first?” She waved her hand as a barrage of lightning rained down from her storm cloud, causing Walter’s energy bubble to flicker in protest.
Gulping nervously, Walter fumbled with his menu for any items or skills he might have that could help, but he found nothing.
“If I could just get my magnum back…!” Walter slammed a fist against the piledrivers keeping him anchored, as Deep6 slunk closer, her water javelin raised.
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