Fight Fire with Fire

He Jumped onto a nearby tree branch as a wave of crackling bubbles sailed past where he had been a moment ago.

“I must say, I really thought I was getting the drop on you,” the man who had attacked him said, stepping out from behind a tree. The bubbles that had been cloaking him slowly floated away.

“So, you and your partner are after me and mine?” John asked, slipping one of his pistols from its holster. “Any chance I can reason with you?” At the same time, he used Move to take the other out of his belt and keep it floating behind the tree.

“Allora... I prefer hunting people to monsters, but respect a man who attempts reason first. If you convince me that taking you out is more trouble than it’s worth, my hands would be tied,” the blond Italian responded, bubbles popping up on his hands and floating into the air. John circled away from the gun he was floating with Move, keeping his enemy’s eyes on himself. At the same time, he used Advanced Spy on his opponent.

“So it’s already decided then?” John asked as he took note of the dozens of bubbles floating idly about near the man.

“I’m afraid so!” Mandruzzo exclaimed, sending a wave of bubbles from his arms and toward John. Staying still until the last moment, John Jumped away, leaving an Afterimage behind. He levelled Ebony at the man in front of him and fired the full clip. The bubbles on his body slowed down the bullets, but they still hurt the italian hunter.

“Interesting,” Mandruzzo commented, the bubbles which sailed through John’s illusion curving toward him as the bubble user leapt away, shooting a cascade of frozen bubbles at John. A Mana Bolt channeled through Ebony was enough to vaporize the electrified bubbles, and he put a shield in front of himself to protect against the frozen spheres.

They cut through the barrier, grazing his arms and carving shallow cuts through the sleeves. John Jumped next to Mandruzzo, swinging at him with a Fist. His hand met bubbles, which popped with explosive ****. The compressed air in the bubbles sent both of them flying back, John landing against a tree and Mandruzzo landing on his feet.

So this is the guy from my vision, John thought, slowly getting up. Too late, he noticed the bubbles which had been floating around the environment the whole time slowly closing in.

“Special Move One - Electrified Bubble Prison!” Mandruzzo exclaimed, stretching his arms wide and then bringing them in. All at once, the bubbles closed in all around him.

Special move? John thought, attempting to Jump past the bubbles closing in all around him. To his surprise, he was met with an error message.

Jump could not find an unobstructed path to your destination!

Instead, John created a dome around himself with Mana Construct, the bubbles exploding on contact. His protection cracking and shattering, John kept pumping mana into it. Gotta think of something, gotta think of something…

Letting his defenses fall, John used Sip the Mana both to recover some of the resources he had expended and to give himself an opening. The bubbles became harmless and normal as his dome dissolved to nothing.

John sprinted forward, punching his opponent in the face. Mandruzzo looked more confused than anything at the fact that his bubbles refused to form.

The blond quickly recovered, blocking John’s next punch and sweeping his legs. John noticed bubbles beginning to form again around them, and charged Fist up and nailed him in the stomach, Mandruzzo flying back from the **** of it. After he crashed through a tree, he cushioned his next impact with a layer of bubbles.

Catching his breath, John noticed a green flare explode up in the air. Lucille’s in trouble. “There’s more where that came from!” John yelled as his opponent walked back toward him, bubbles slipping off his body into the air.

“Bursts of super strength, fascinating,” was all Mandruzzo said as he took the gloves he was wearing off. A beam of bubbles shot off his hand, and a channeled cast of Mana Bolt didn’t pierce through these as it had the last ones. “Special move two - Lightning Bubble Storm!” It held them back for a moment, and John charged it up slightly more before trying again, this time successful.

He cast it again and swept it over the environment, popping as many bubbles as he could. Mandruzzo shot a tidal wave of bubbles at John, including those that made up his shield.

Charging a hundred mana into Mana Bolt, he fired it at the oncoming attack. The first layer of bubbles was vaporized, but the Italian could produce bubbles faster than he could possibly destroy them. Abandoning the effort to push the attack back, he tried to Jump out of the way.

Jump could not find an unobstructed path to your destination!

Knowing that trying to block the attack was a waste of mana, he surrounded himself with his duster and accepted the inevitable. It had to be the one element the duster is weak to. So this is the moment I saw in my vision…

The bubbles surrounded him before all exploded at once in a flash of lightning. John’s health was cut in half, and he felt woozy. His vision blacked out for a few moments, and when he returned to cognizance, he saw Mandruzzo standing over him, rifling through his pockets. He tried to move, but couldn’t. “Ah, my apologies. I will knock you out in a moment. I just want to get your identification card for evidence first.”

John would have smirked if he could, his ID card was safely stored away in his inventory. I don’t have to move to finish him off, John thought, using Move to point Ivory at the man going through his jacket.

He channeled one hundred mana into a Mana Bolt and fired it at his opponent, the beam impacting his head and knocking him out, the heavier man collapsing on top of him. After a few minutes, John felt sensation return to him. He pushed his opponent off and rifled through his pouches and pockets until he found Mandruzzo’s ID card. He used Advanced Spy on his opponent, wondering if more would be revealed to him now that his enemy was unaware (****).

Tapping on the two statuses he didn’t know the effects of, he learned that Mindful increased his mana regeneration by five times, and Specialized Elementalist locked him out of using any non-elemental skills, allowed him to infuse and mix elements, and cut the cost of any spells whose primary element was water to a tenth the usual cost.

Man, how do I get the Mindful perk? I wonder if there’s a specialization perk for being a gun-user, John thought, slinging the **** man over his shoulder. He also saw that the paralyzing bubbles still floated in the air, and gently raised a Mana Construct covered hand to one. He was able to slip it into his inventory, and did this for the twenty or so that remained. With that out of the way, he started heading toward where he had seen the flare rise.

Upon arriving, he saw two things: a woman sat on a rock accompanied by six floating swords and a silvery statue of Lucille standing next to her. Upon looking closer, he realized that it was Lucille, she was encased in metal.

“So it is down to you, and it is down to me,” the woman said, watching John approach. He also used Advanced Spy on her. “I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you.”

“Surely, we can come to an agreement,” John said, approaching and holding her partner out. A metal spike flew forward from her belt, stopping a foot away from him.

“There will be no agreement, and every step forward is killing her,” Metallia replied, wiggling a finger. As she did, one of the hairs on the sculpture that was Lucille came off, floating gently to the ground.

“If there can be no agreement, then we are at an impasse,” John explained, stopping short of the dart and making a cylinder out of Mana Construct to sit on.

“Precisely, you are no match for my mind, and I cannot match your strength,” the woman replied, looking at her nails as if out of boredom.

“You’re that smart?”John asked, getting the feeling she was exaggerating even though he couldn’t see her stats.

“Have you heard of da Vinci? Hawking? Socrates?” the metalomancer asked, getting up from her seat. When John nodded, she continued, “Morons.”

“Alright then, I challenge you to a battle of the mind,” John concluded, dropping his **** enemy on the ground.

“For our allies?” Mettalia asked, the needle receding back into her belt. When John nodded, she continued, “To the ****?”

“Uh, no thanks. I’d rather not die,” John replied, causing his enemy to look pensive for a few moments.

“I accept. You may approach, but keep at least three feet from me. My major sphere of influence ends with three feet, so such a distance is optimal for avoiding any surprise metal attacks from myself or surprise punches from you,” the woman conceded, though a layer of metal encased her body as insurance.

John did just that, careful to watch her and her metal for any sudden moves. When he was about five feet away, he made sure to lower Mandruzzo to the ground a few feet back, still easily in reach with Move. He then created a large cylinder between them with Mana Construct. The bottom of it conformed easily to the rough ground, and so it was a stable, flat surface. He used Craft on the paralyzing bubbles and water he had gathered. The first result was exactly what he wanted.

Paralyzing Water
Common Item. Though it looks, sounds, smells, and tastes like normal water, the moment it is ingested, it will paralyze the person unlucky enough to be on the receiving end for a minute. Feels like numbness.

Satisfied with the result, he placed two vials of water on the makeshift table, creating divots in it for the tubes to be held upright. “The stakes are set upon paralyzing water fashioned from normal water and your teammate’s bubbles. It is odorless, tasteless, and indistinguishable from normal water until drunk. Where is the tainted water? The battle of minds has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and we find out who is right,”