Although, Jade thought as she danced between her two assailants, slashing with her gleaming blades, the situation had its advantages. Summoning power through the new pathways etched into her soul, she spoke an incantation and cast Enrapture for the first time. Immediately, golden light began shining from her body in a radiant aura that stopped the two demons in their tracks. They both just stood there, staring at her with expressions that bordered on awe. A jolt of warmth flooded Jade, making her feel unexpectedly vibrant and alive, though the pain in her side didn't diminish. The wound grounded her, keeping her focused as she darted up to the first demon and kissed him, breathing in sharply.
The creature's vitality flowed into her in an unexpectedly powerful burst. The boosts from her Heartbreaker ability and the charm enhancement of her Kiss of Night spell compounded, resulting in a rapid influx of strength and energy accompanied by alluringly sweet, turbulent emotions. The demon dropped to the ground after only a few moments, drained of life. Jade sighed in relief as her wound reknit itself, the pain diminishing as the drained life force restored her. She knew she should be recoiling from how good the act of draining a creature to death felt, but her current circumstances didn't allow for distracting thoughts. She dismissed her reservations and repeated the process on the other bruzak, leaving her dead husk to drop to the ground as she darted back outside to engage Malice.
The succubus was nowhere to be seen when Jade emerged back into the courtyard, although she did spot the mangled corpse of the giant centipede she'd charmed into attacking the demon. Expanding her magical senses, Jade detected Malice just in time to avoid being crushed under her feet as she dove down from a nearby pillar, slamming into the ground with enough force to crack the stones as Jade rolled away.
"You can't beat me." Malice said, flicking the tip of her whip back and forth as she stalked towards Jade. Her boots clicked on the uneven cobblestones, a steady rhythm that she could hear even over the growing hum that was starting to send tremors through the ground. "And you're running out of tricks."
The succubus bore a few minor wounds that dripped with blood, but none were critical. For every hit she landed on the demon, Malice gave her back two more. If she had been seriously injured by the bomba bomb, her foe had already healed herself before this confrontation.
"Maybe, but I'm not out of them yet."
Jade blinked to the side in the same moment Malice struck, her whip uncoiling like a striking serpent as it flashed towards her at incredible speed. Even with Mirage Step's near instantaneous movement she only barely evaded the lash. It struck the stone where she'd been instead, the crack of the whip accompanied by an explosion of stone splinters.
What the hell is that thing made of?!
"Noctis!"
A bolt of darkness erupted from Jade's hand, spiraling through the air towards the succubus. Phantom quickly followed in its wake, the dagger duplicating multiple times as it spun through the air, leaving a wake of frosty mist. Using all these spells and talents in such rapid succession was draining Jade's mana stores, but she didn't have a choice. Malice could match her speed and exceed her strength. She needed an edge.
The succubus raised a hand and caught the magical darkness, casually dispersing the spell's energy. She noticed the trio of daggers spinning towards her a moment later, but there was no time to dodge. Two caught her in the chest and she stumbled back a step, snarling at Jade even as she summoned Phantom back to her hand to fling it again. She rounded the courtyard at a sprint, throwing dagger after dagger, triggering Hail Blade as often as the cooldown and her dwindling mana supply allowed. Malice struck back with rapid whip strikes, forcing Jade to focus more on evasion than accuracy. She ran up fallen pillars, dashed along walls, and blinked between half-collapsed terraces, trying to confuse her opponent. Jade deployed hidden rune traps and used her invisibility spell in short bursts to further misdirect her, desperately reaching for any opportunity to land a decisive hit.
It didn't work. Malice kept pace with her, lunging after her with powerful flaps of her leathery wings. More hits cracked against Jade's arms and sides, glancing blows that didn't deal any real damage. That wasn't the point of them. There was another snap and Jade gasped in pain, the lash leaving a thin line of red on her side. Another notification blinked into view.
-
Combat Log
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You have been inflicted with 'Will Breaker'
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'Will Breaker': Temporary 3% penalty to willpower per stack. Current number of stacks: 9.
The demon's whip carried an insidious power. Every strike applied another stack of the debuff, and Jade had a good idea what Malice's plan was. She continued to dodge through the ruins, harrying Malice with a rapid barrage of thrown blades while her mind raced. The succubus hadn't used any charm spells yet. Jade had an innate resistance to that type of magic, but if her willpower took a high enough hit…
Shit!
Finally, she made a mistake. Jade's foot slipped on a slick patch of moss, and she lost her footing, tumbling off the edge of a balcony and out into open space. Even wounded and disoriented, her body knew what to do in a fall. Jade twisted in the air, somehow managing to land on her feet and tuck into a roll. Another jolt of pain shot through her legs at the impact, even her enhanced fortitude couldn't completely shake off a twenty-foot drop, but she managed to come up running.
Too slow.
WHAM
"Ahh!"
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Jade cried in pain as Malice slammed into her back, kicking her into a nearby stone wall. There was a loud crunch as she struck, and for a moment everything went dark. Jade's vision returned slowly, like an old television set tuning into a channel. She was lying on the mossy ground, one arm bent at an awkward, unnatural angle. She was sure that it had to be hurting, but her entire body ached so much that it was hard to tell.
Malice stalked towards her, an arrogant smile twisting her lips.
"I told you." She said, shaking her head in mock sympathy. "Maybe if you'd listened to me, we-"
Jade didn't wait for her to finish. She sat up, ignoring the pounding in her head, and reached for a bag on her belt. She'd given the dimensional pouch to Luis for this mission, but that wasn't the only one she carried. There was another that Jade kept on her at all times, one that even she had been hesitant to try. Before Malice could stop her, she plunged her hand into the skull-marked Bag of Death and pulled.
A dark cloud of smoke burst from the pouch, filling the space between them as a sensation of icy cold gripped Jade's arm. She felt a powerful tug, as if something within the void of the bag's opening was trying to pull her inside. She resisted with all her might, gritting her teeth and wrenching her arm free of the pouch with a heave that sent her rocking back on the stone, causing her head to crack painfully against the wall behind her. Pain flashed through her once again and her vision blurred for a moment, but Jade retained enough awareness to see a large shape forming amid the cloud of smoke. Its silhouette grew in size until it stood eight feet tall with a skeletal body and a bulky frame. A heavy axe thudded to the ground beside it, and it swung its bestial skull towards her, crimson light flickering in its empty eye sockets.
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Bag of Death
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You have summoned a random undead. Monster summoned: Minotaur Skeleton.
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Summoning Time: Ten minutes.
A new notification popped up in the corner of Jade's vision. It took the form of a spinning wheel with multiple colored slices on it, like something one would see on a game show. The wheel began spinning rapidly, slowing down quickly as the options ticked by. Most of the slices were green, but a fifth of them were an angry shade of red.
Tickticktick
Jade hauled herself upright, leaning against the wall for support. Her entire body ached, and she numbly noticed that she'd left a streak of blood smeared against the wall. Her blood.
Tick…tick…tick.
The wheel continued to slow. The entire process only lasted a couple of seconds, but to Jade, it felt far longer.
Tick…
The wheel hovered on one of the red spaces before finally coming to rest on one of the green.
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Bag of Death
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Monster: Minotaur Skeleton is under your control and will obey your commands for the duration of its summoning.
Relief welled up inside Jade. She pointed at the creature.
"Attack the succubus…!" She gasped, still winded. "The other succubus!" She quickly amended.
The skeletal monster snorted, which Jade found strange considering it lacked lungs, and turned away from her, lumbering through the rapidly dispersing cloud. Malice's form resolved a moment later, stalking through the smoke and glaring at Jade, only to blink in surprise at the sudden appearance of the large undead monster standing before her. The minotaur skeleton screeched, swinging its huge axe in a wide arc and forcing the demon to dodge away as the ground beneath her was transformed into a small crater. She snarled, casting a spell that summoned thick chains from the ground. They wrapped around the skeletal creature, pulling it to the ground as it fought to free itself.
Jade ducked behind a low wall, quaffing her last healing elixir and breathing a sigh of relief as her newest pains eased. One of her wings still wasn't moving quite right, but seeing as the stupid thing didn't help her fly it wasn't a high priority to deal with. She readied her weapons, preparing to leap back into the fight.
And then what?
Jade hesitated; sensing Malice toss another spell at her beleaguered summon. Even with the monster backing her up, she couldn't defeat the succubus. She was already critically low on mana and had no more potions to heal herself with. Malice wasn't looking so great herself, but Jade had no doubt the stronger demon could still take her in a head-on fight.
I'm doing it again.
She was trying to do it all herself.
Jade took a deep breath, remembering all the times her teammates had scolded her for being reckless. For not waiting for them. For assuming she was the only one who was up to the challenge. She recalled the shrine of growth, and the vision she'd received in that tranquil glade. It remained etched in her mind, a painful memory that she could no longer discard.
"Guys." She said, holding a hand to her earpiece. "What's going on over there? Are you okay?"
"Jade!" Naomi's voice came over the radio immediately. The connection was distorted and filled with static, but she could still make out her friend's words. "The others are pretty banged up, but Tara is working on disabling the ritual. What's going on?"
She sounded as stressed as Jade felt. There was a loud crash nearby as the minotaur smashed something with its axe. Jade's magical senses detected Malice flitting through the ruins, making for her position. Her breather was about to end.
"I…" she took a deep breath. "I need help."
Naomi was kneeling beside Fenrin when the call came. The half-elf was unconcious, not dead, much to the bard's relief. She had just wrapped up a healing melody that ensured he would stay that way when Jade's voice crackled over her earpiece. Naomi listened for several moments, asked a few questions, and then turned her gaze to Luis. The large man was standing guard over Tara, his left arm hanging limp at his side. He'd removed the splintered remains of his magical shield, revealing the bloody mess beneath. Naomi had been about to heal him next, but he shook his head.
"Go!" He shouted. "I'll stay and keep watch!"
There were no signs of other demons in the area, nor had any of the core space's monsters approached from the jungle. Maybe the rapid sequence of striking lightning bolts arcing from the Core to the ritual circle were keeping them away. Naomi certainly didn't want to get anywhere near it. Fortunately, it seemed Tara had done something to the circle to prevent any more of the dangerous emanations from getting near them.
She made a snap decision. Naomi had done all she could to help here. Now, Jade was the one in danger. More importantly…
She's asking for help.
Naomi had been telling her friend that she needed to open up since they'd met all those weeks ago. Now that she finally had, she wasn't going to let her down.
"Jade, I'm coming." She said, pulling up her map and quickly plotting a path to her party member's location. "Hold on."
Tara and Luis were wounded, but both had potions and were still in fighting shape. They could look after Fenrin. Naomi had done all she could for him already. Without wasting anymore time she took off, dashing through the thick jungle. The sun had finally set but the light emanating from the Core was bright enough to illuminate the entire jungle, albeit in a strange azure glow. It was enough to guide her passage as she sprinted with supernatural endurance ducking under branches, leaping bushes, and sliding down slopes.
Almost there!
The ruins next to the bridge were only a few minutes from the Core. She pushed herself harder, a plan forming in her mind. Jade was facing Malice, and Naomi had already spent time considering the best ways to engage the succubus, were they to face her again. She was nearly there when a powerful pulse of heat radiated through the jungle, blinding her magical senses entirely. Another wave of nausea nearly caused her to fall over, but she pressed on, ignoring the dimensional distortion effect as best she could.
What she couldn't ignore were the dozens of indistinct figures slowly resolving out of the gloom around her. Most were humanoid, but many had more monstrous proportions. They started as shadows but were developing features far more quickly than Naomi was comfortable with. More pulses echoed through the jungle, coming at an increasing rate.
Come on Tara… Naomi prayed. You can do this!
It was up to the tek'kalla mage at this point. Naomi knew little of magic and certainly didn't possess the raw firepower needed to disrupt the Core. She chose to believe in Luis and Tara and to focus on what she could do.
Help her friend.