Weapons of War

The sword in her hand felt oddly familiar to Rowan, and she couldn’t explain why. It was a bit heavier than her own, a few centimeters longer and wider and yet Rowan felt like she had wielded it for longer than she was alive. The odd feeling was enhanced by an unshakable sense that she wasn’t alone, that someone had her back, a trusted companion that had never, and would never, let her down.

Rowan quashed any thoughts about them as she leveled her gaze on their two enemies. Mid-combat was not the time to think about such odd things. She tensed, some whisper in the back of her mind telling her to be ready to strike, almost like some long memorized instruction.

Beside her, Teri gazed up at her with a concerned expression for a moment before looking back at their enemies.

“How are we going to deal with them?” the goblin asked.

Rowan felt a smile stretch her lips. “I think I can rush them down, thanks to your boost. If you can keep that up, I should be able to just break them apart.”

Teri’s ears drooped a bit as she clearly thought about her suggestion.

“That’s a bold plan,” the goblin said. “I can keep the enhancement going, but I don’t feel so good about letting you take all the aggro. Even amped up, two-on-one isn’t the best strategy. I might not be the best fighter, but I can at least keep one busy.”

Rowan bit her lip. While her fear and doubt were suppressed, they weren’t entirely muted, so she had some hesitation to accept Teri’s suggestion. True, she had handled herself alright before, but would she be okay in a proper two-on-two?

‘But,’ she thought as she tightened her grip, ‘even with the boost, I don’t know if I can really handle both effectively. In for a penny, in for a pound.’

Rowan nodded to Teri. “Alright, but don’t be afraid to pull back if you need to. The Lady gives many gifts and yours not being in direct combat is nothing to be ashamed of. Without you, I don’t think we’d be able to even have this conversation.”

Teri’s mouth twitched into a smile. “You are a bit more vocal now.”

Rowan couldn’t hold back a laugh. “I was a bit too nervous to be so chatty. Last mission didn’t exactly go smoothly and I thought I needed to be more serious to be the best I could be.”

“I get that,” Teri said softly. “Lot of pressure on you sucks.”

Rowan nodded. “Guess we can always let off some steam by beating these guys.”

Teri nodded and Rowan took a step forward. The action caused the pair of robots to shift their stance, the one Rowan had been fighting stepping behind the one Teri had, that one lifting its shield in defense.

Rowan didn’t care that it had taken a defensive posture and brought her sword down hard upon the bulwark. It met her strike with a resounding crack, but held up to her enhanced strength.

‘Great, I’ll need to burn some mana to get through,’ she sourly thought. With her low reserves, she’d hoped that Teri’s enchantment would be enough for her to succeed with only her body’s power, but it seemed that the robot’s shield was made of quality material.

Rowan pulled back, and readied for a second attack, her mana beginning to flow towards her muscles. As she did, however, an errant thought crossed her mind. Normally, when increasing her strength with mana, she would follow what she had learned from the Order’s instructors; sending a constant stream of mana around her body akin to her blood flow, allowing for an even spread of power throughout her whole body.

But now, a new idea came to her and she couldn’t help but try it. She sent a small amount of mana into her arms and let it flare into strength giving power as she swung her blade down. The power that flooded through her arms was far greater than anything she had felt using the Order’s method and with a deafening crash, drove her bronze blade into the shield.

The surge of power let her attack bite into the wood of the shield and caused the robot to buckle at the knees. Rowan couldn’t help but chuckle at how easy it was compared to before. Then, driven by a desire to show off her skill, she wrenched her sword free and attacked again, this time swinging high for the robot’s head.

The other injured robot tried to **** her to withdraw, springing into action with its sword raised. Teri rushed in to counter the attempted reinforcement, thrusting her staff like a spear into the wound Rowan had inflicted upon it.

The impaling strike drove into the robot, causing a shower of sparks to flow out like blood and preventing it from reaching Rowan. With no intervention to stop it, Rowan’s attack cleanly hit the robot’s head, the edge cleaving deep into its metallic skin. The **** of the blow knocked the machine off its feet and Rowan was quick to bring her blade down on her prone foe, running the tip through its neck.

Decapitated, the machine faded, leaving behind its shield. Rowan turned, seeing Teri doing her best to keep the other bot at bay, her staff just barely able to deflect sword strikes. Dashing over, Rowan rounded on the robot’s right side, limiting its ability to easily defend. It tried to bring its weapon up to block, but Teri brought her staff down hard on the blade, forcing it to the ground.

Exposed, the machine had no way to stop Rowan as she brought her blade down upon its head, cleaving into it a fair distance before it began to fade away, dropping its sword to the ground as it did.

Teri’s posture slumped as she let out a haggard breath.

“Are you alright?” Rowan asked, the buzz of adrenaline and magical reinforcement fading, making her feel a bit worn down as well.

“I’ll be honest, I’m not that used to getting into actual combat,” Teri confessed, using her staff to support her weight. “Even before getting this staff, I was just using my magic to boost others. It was the best way I could help.”

Rowan felt a bit of kinship with the goblin, knowing all too well how limitations on one’s ability to support their allies felt.

“You held your own well enough,” Rowan said. “Better than I would have before any training.”

“Had to learn a lot,” Teri bitterly muttered, and Rowan flinched as she realized her faux pas, that Teri’s rough skill was born from tragic necessity.

“But,” Teri continued, her tone a bit more bright, “at least that chapter is over. And when we finish this game, we’ll be in a good spot to recover.”

“It’s good to keep a positive mindset,” Rowan said.

Teri nodded then frowned a bit, staring at Rowan with critical eyes. “Are you feeling alright? I don’t know what happened when you grabbed that sword, but it shorted out my magic.”

Rowan blinked and looked down at the sword. “I feel fine. There was a sort of odd feeling of not being alone and I had some flashes of inspiration during the fight, but that’s about it.”

“Huh,” Teri muttered. “Do you mind if I give it a look?”

“I mean, I don’t, but is this really a good use of our time?” Rowan asked. “I doubt the Lady would put something dangerous for us to find.”

“You say that, but we’re still fighting enemies,” Teri countered. “I just want to get a feel for it. I don’t like that it shorted out my emotional magic when you grabbed it.”

“Is this going to limit your ability to fight?” Rowan pressed. “We don’t know what’s ahead of us.”

“It’ll only eat up a small amount of my mana,” Teri assured her. “I’d rather be sure than have the idea that you’re about to turn into some kind of puppet making me hesitate later on.”

“I suppose an assurance now is better than doubt later,” Rowan remarked, presenting the sword to the goblin. “Go ahead.”

Teri nodded and placed her hand on the flat of the blade. Rowan furrowed her brow, trying to feel the goblin’s mana as she performed her inspection. As always, her lacking skills caused self-hatred to burn in her chest, and all she could feel were the barest pulses from Teri.

After a few moments, Teri withdrew her hand, and smiled at Rowan. “Well, there are some signs that there was some kind of mental connection to you, it’s not an active one. I think it was an automatic protection against mind-altering effects. Since my magic had already affected your emotions, it only cut me off from further tweaking them.”

“Then we’re good to proceed then?” Rowan asked.

Teri nodded. “Yeah. I do think you should have some of your people give you a look over once this is all over. Same with the sword.”

“Don’t worry about that. Order procedure is to check all members upon return from missions,” Rowan informed her, holding up the sword as she did. “And Knight Ramirez will surely take this to be inspected, even without protocol demanding it.”

“Alright,” Teri said, tapping the discarded sword and adding it to the loot pile. “We should get moving then if we’re all good.”

“I think we’re all good,” Rowan smiled. “If you’ve got it in you, I wouldn’t mind another strength boost.”

“I’ve got a few left in me,” Teri returned her smile. “I want to win after all.”

---

John jammed Senka’s vessel into the armpit of the drone he was fighting, its arms kept up by the dark vines of Shadow Snare. He unsummoned the knife and re-equipped the greatwood sword, then spun on his feet to deliver a heavy blow against its chainmail-covered torso.

His attack drove the drone back, its arm flapping uselessly in the air, the axe it had been wielding clattering to the ground. With his opponent dealt with for the moment, John glanced over at his temporary partner. K’mels fought like a tempest, the twin axes he now used cleaving into the armor of his enemy, the weapons far better than his sword had been.

‘We got lucky that we found a good set of weapons to replace his,’ Senka noted as they watched K’mels rip the robot’s arm off.

‘Yeah,’ John thought back. ‘He’s a lot more effective when he’s got a good weapon.’

‘I think a lot of his sour attitude was because he had a subpar weapon,’ Senka murmured. ‘Envious of those that had far superior ones.’

‘Just because weapons are phallic, doesn’t mean you need to point it out, or imply K’mels has penis envy,’ John complained as Senka let out a light laugh.

‘A girl needs to make her own amusement,’ the spirit remarked. ‘And I think you need to get back into the fighting.’

Senka’s remark made John return his focus to his opponent. Battered, down to only one working arm and with no weapon, it wasn’t much of a threat, but Senka had a point. It was foolish to take his attention off it, even in its pitiful state. Tensing slightly, John waited for it to move towards him.

Its head shifted down slightly, and if it had eyes, John imagined it would be looking at its discarded weapon. Then the bot dashed towards the axe, its good arm reaching down. John sprang into action, moving to intercept. Being far lighter and not ‘injured’, John was more than able to get between the robot and its axe. Using the momentum of his run, John swung his sword with all his might, cleanly knocking the robot off its feet as he struck its head.

It crashed into the wall and faded away, leaving only its discarded weapon, which John tapped with his foot.

Do you wish to equip: Brightsteel Axe?
Yes/No

John tapped the ‘No’ option, holding back an annoyed sigh.

“Think this system needs some streamlining,” he muttered to no one in particular. If Gaia cared about the game design, she would already know his thoughts on this matter.

“If you have time to complain,” K’mels remarked as he drove one of his axes into his enemy’s head, causing it to fade away, “then you could have assisted me.”

“You had it under control,” John said back, a little confused by K’mels’ comment.

The goblin spat and shook his head. “This may be a game, but standing around while an enemy still lives is a good way to die. And I’d rather have a living ally over a dead one, if one is needed.”

‘I’m almost touched,’ John sarcastically thought, prompting Senka to laugh.

‘At least we’re upgrades from dead allies in his mind,’ she tittered.

‘I too like being alive,’ John shot back with a mental chuckle.

“I’ll keep that in mind for the next one,” John said to K’mels in an attempt to placate the goblin. K’mels only exhaled hard through his nose in response.

Seeing no opportunity or desire for more talk, John and K’mels continued down the path they were on. For the most part, it had been a straightforward trek. Most of the branches they found ended in what John was calling ‘Trophy Rooms’ as they seemed to have a single piece of loot sometimes guarded by an enemy.

In the three rooms they had so far found, they had only acquired one item of real note: a shield bearing an engraving of a hedgehog, that Observe claimed could produce quills for added defense. While it only bore the unimaginative name of ‘Hedgehog Shield’ it at least offered more than just a good piece of equipment. Even K’mel’s twin axes were rather plain in terms of additional effects.

Still, loot was loot, and those three items, plus the weapon and armor drops from the seven bots they had currently defeated, would certainly be useful.

‘Wonder how many more things we’ll find before running into the ‘boss’ we need to beat,’ John thought as they moved deeper into the game.

‘How long have we been at it? Closing in on an hour, right?’ Senka asked. After getting an affirmation from John, she thought, ‘If the announcer or Gaia are actually running things directly, I’d assume they would arrange things for us to start running into them as well as revealing the exit.’

‘Assuming we’re on a locked path, which seems likely as every path off it ended in a deadend, then they probably aren’t directly running things,’ John countered. ‘Just have the bots on a ‘motion sensor’ that triggers when anyone gets close.’

‘A fair point,’ Senka admitted. ‘This place does feel more railroad-y than the maze or key quest. And it seems we might have reached a checkpoint.’

Senka’s observation was brought about by them turning a corner and finding a door. It wasn’t any more ornate than any other one they’d found, but both John and K’mels stopped before reaching it.

“You feel it too, eh?” K’mels asked in a serious tone. “Everything else on this path was open. That’s going to lead to what we need to beat to win.”

“Beat, or just take the flag it’s guarding,” John corrected. When K’mels shot him a look, John said, “Would you rather us run into the brick wall over and over to achieve victory and leave last or hit and run and get out first?”

“Since you and the Order got a lot of points for fighting the first boss, I say we fight, we win and we leave first,” K’mels declared. “We do have an advantage over the others.”

“And what’s that?” John asked.

“We aren’t really a team of two, now, are we?” K’mels grinned. “You summon that spirit lady of yours, we have the advantage.”

‘Damn, he has a brain under all that anger,’ Senka lamented.

“Alright, we do have a numerical advantage,” John admitted. “But I don’t think summoning her right off the bat is the right play.”

“Then we’ll set up the ambush,” K’mels said with a grin. He brought his axes up. “Unless you have another plan?”

“No, I don’t have a plan. We don’t even know if there’s anything on the other side of the door,” John remarked.

“If there isn’t, I’ll eat my axe,” K’mels grunted as John opened the door, revealing a raised platform with a staircase leading down into a large, octagonal room. In contrast with the rest of the manor house aesthetic, this looked far more like a fighting ring, with white floors and walls, completely unadorned. Three more stairs led to platforms like the one before them, two close to them and one directly across.

And in the center of the chamber, three chrome automatons stood shoulder to shoulder in a triangle formation. Each bore a short sword and large ovoid shield and had a red sash tied around their waist.

‘Looks like K’mels won’t be getting his iron today,’ Senka joked, trying to break the tension in John’s head.

‘Yeah,’ John replied, not feeling very humorous as he surveyed the situation. “Three teams, four doors. Betting the one set apart leads to the exit. If things are fair, then only one will activate when we go down there.”

“Only one way to find out,” K’mels said, a grim grin on his face as he lifted his axes up. “Let’s take the lead.”